10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast: Recent Episodes
Michael Veazey, Kevin King, Mike Zagare, Paul Harvey
For Serious Amazon and e-commerce sellersmaking 6,7 & 8 figures plus in sales. We’ve in-depth interviews with serious e-commerce sellers; and with industry experts in key areas, like sourcing from China, custom manufacturing, and financing e-commerce expansion. We focus on strategy not tactics; brand-building, not short-term sales.
Welcome to another episode! Today, we're diving into the complexities of Amazon FBA and US sales tax compliance with Jared Smithson of RJM Tax Exemption. Jared's team specializes in helping American, UK, and other international businesses navigate the ever-changing landscape of US sales tax. With over 5,000 businesses under their belt, they're the perfect guide to ensure your e-commerce brand scales smoothly without unnecessary tax burdens.[00:00:00] - "Need to File Sales Tax Returns"[00:04:55] - "Necessity of Paying Sales Tax"[00:06:04] - "Penalties for Not Paying Sales Tax"[00:13:10] - "Nexus for Non-Marketplace Platforms"[00:15:16] - "Using Resale Certificates with Wholesalers"[00:16:55] - "Corporate Structures and Sales Tax"[00:18:49] - "Mistakes by Established Sellers"[00:22:12] - "Acquiring a Business with Tax Liabilities"[00:23:33] - "Sales Tax for Non-Marketplace Platforms"[00:27:13] - "Managing Sales Tax for New Platforms"[00:30:08] - "Need to File Sales Tax Returns"[00:31:45] - "Special Offer for Listeners"[00:33:33] - "Closing Thoughts"What is Sales Tax and Why Does it Matter for Amazon Sellers?Let's break it down. Sales tax, essentially the US version of VAT, is a tax levied on the sale of specific goods and services. The rate varies significantly by state, county, and even city, with over 11,000 jurisdictions to keep track of! But here's the catch: even if you're based outside the US, you can still be liable for sales tax under a concept called "sales tax nexus." Simply put, nexus signifies a substantial connection with a state, which can be established through physical presence or exceeding economic thresholds. Failing to register for sales tax when required can lead to hefty penalties and back taxes.The Common Misconception and How to Avoid ItMany sellers mistakenly assume Amazon collecting and remitting sales tax in certain states absolves them of all responsibility. While this may simplify things in some cases, it's crucial to remember that individual state regulations vary. Some states might exempt sellers solely on Amazon, while others consider economic thresholds or physical presence (like using an Amazon fulfillment center) as triggers for registration. Additionally, some states, like Washington and Texas, have unique legislation requiring registration even if you only sell on Amazon.Taking Action: How to Register for Sales TaxThe good news: registering for sales tax is generally a straightforward process. Most states allow you to register online through their Department of Revenue website and obtain a sales tax certificate. This process typically takes 1-2 hours and requires your Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Remember, many sellers overlook obtaining an EIN because Amazon allows them to operate without it. However, an EIN is crucial for tax compliance.Reseller Certificates and US Business StructuresWhile this episode focuses on private label and custom product sellers, it's important to note that if you purchase inventory from US wholesalers, you can likely obtain a reseller certificate to avoid paying sales tax upfront. This certificate, based on your shipping address, allows wholesalers to recognize you're not the end consumer.Here's some good news for international sellers: you don't necessarily need a US LLC or Corporation to sell on Amazon USA. Your existing UK Ltd company can suffice, provided you obtain an EIN.Beyond the Basics: Considerations for Established BusinessesFor established businesses with significant sales volume, incorporating a US entity offers advantages. A US corporation allows you to open a US bank account, potentially securing better exchange rates and facilitating relationships with US suppliers.Common Mistakes Established Sellers Make (and How to Avoid Them)Established sellers often fall into the trap of expanding to multiple platforms like Shopify without considering the sales tax implications acros...
For e-commerce brand owners looking to scale their businesses with minimal capital, hiring virtual assistants (VAs) can be a game-changer. However, making the wrong hire can lead to lost time, money, and productivity. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore common virtual assistant hiring mistakes and provide actionable tips to help you navigate the process seamlessly.00:00:43 - Introduction to FreeUp00:01:41 - FreeUp Services00:02:32 - Hiring the Right Freelancers00:06:20 - Effective Communication and Expectations00:08:16 - Structured Approach to Hiring00:09:52 - Creating a Scope of Work00:12:09 - Vetting Freelancers with Test Projects00:14:23 - Tailoring the Interview ProcessDefine Your Needs and Create a Solid Scope of WorkBefore you even begin the recruitment process, it's crucial to define your needs and create a detailed scope of work. Start by grabbing a pen and paper, and list out all the menial tasks you can hand off to a VA. When you see these tasks in writing, you'll realize which ones can be delegated without extensive training or onboarding.A scope of work serves as an agreement between you and the freelancer, outlining expectations, processes, key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics, and deliverables. It's essential to have this document in place, whether you're hiring an in-house or freelance VA. Not only does it save time on training, but it also sets clear boundaries and ensures everyone is on the same page.Leverage Freelancer Hiring Platforms and Conduct Test ProjectsWhen it comes to sourcing potential candidates, freelancer hiring platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freeup can be valuable resources. These platforms typically pre-vet freelancers, saving you time and effort in the initial screening process. Additionally, you can tap into industry networks, word-of-mouth recommendations, and LinkedIn to find suitable candidates.Regardless of where you find potential VAs, it's crucial to conduct test projects. These projects will not only gauge the candidate's skills but also provide insights into their communication style, time management, and ability to follow instructions. Pay close attention to whether they arrive on time for meetings, complete tasks within the given timeframe, and ask relevant questions to understand the scope of work better.Vet for Experience, Time Capacity, and Communication SkillsWhen evaluating potential VAs, it's essential to consider their experience level, time capacity, and communication skills. At Freeup, for instance, freelancers are required to have at least three years of experience to ensure they possess the necessary expertise and professionalism.Time capacity is another crucial factor. Many international freelancers work extended hours and juggle multiple clients, so it's important to understand their workload and availability. Additionally, inquire about their work setup – are they operating solo or as part of an agency? Knowing who you'll be communicating with can help you gauge the level of support and responsiveness you can expect.Conduct Thorough Interviews and Background ChecksWhile a candidate may look impressive on paper, it's essential to conduct thorough interviews to assess their personality fit, work style, and communication skills. Remember, you'll be working closely with this individual, so ensuring a good cultural and communication fit is crucial for a productive working relationship.Furthermore, don't skip background checks and identity verification processes. These steps can help mitigate potential risks and ensure you're hiring a legitimate and trustworthy individual.Consider Managed Services for a Hands-Off ApproachIf you prefer a more hands-off approach to managing your virtual assistants, consider opting for managed services offered by platforms like Freeup. With managed services, a dedicated project manager handles weekly meetings, ensures deliverables are met,
In the fast-paced world of Amazon-centric e-commerce, mastering the art of juggling time and finances is non-negotiable. This guide aims to assist small business owners in navigating the relentless demands of running an Amazon-based enterprise, emphasizing the critical role effective time and financial management plays in achieving scalable success.[00:00] - Time Management[05:40] - Cashflow Management[12:30] - Practical Tips for Success[17:30] - Utilizing Analytics and Data[20:50] - Psychological strengthTime Management: Your Most Precious AssetTime, once lost, can never be regained. In the e-commerce realm, where every minute counts, efficient time management is a game-changer. Start by setting a schedule, understanding the pitfalls of multitasking, and embracing the power of focus. Learn the art of delegation and outsourcing to free up crucial hours, and don’t underestimate the importance of balance and rest to stave off burnout.Mastering SMART Goals and Prioritization TechniquesTo optimize time management, set SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Implement prioritization techniques like the 50/1 rule (identifying the 1% of tasks yielding 50% results) and the Eisenhower matrix for efficient task categorization. Explore time-blocking methods, reserving the first and last hours of your day for mission-critical activities. Embrace automation wisely, but avoid expecting last-minute rescues from tools.Cashflow Management: Navigating the Ebb and FlowUnderstanding and managing cash flow is the financial lifeline of any e-commerce venture. Dive into the strategies for effective cash flow management, including forecasting and inventory control. Maximize cash inflow by adjusting prices strategically—up for fast-selling items and down for slow movers. Implement proactive credit control to ensure timely payments from owed invoices. Minimize cash outflow through negotiation with suppliers and judicious use of credit.Surviving Lean Periods and Inventory Jedi TricksMaintaining a cash reserve is paramount, especially for weathering slow sales periods. Uncover practical tips for managing inventory to boost profitability, steering clear of common pitfalls like trying to gain market share during Q4. Resist overspending on ads; instead, focus on maximizing profits. Learn the delicate dance of negotiating terms with suppliers and utilizing credit wisely.Practical Tips for Success: Analytics, Psychology, and SupportHarnessing the Power of DataDive into the world of analytics and data-driven decision-making. Leverage Amazon analytics and other tools to make informed choices and optimize business strategies. Discard reliance on intuition; instead, let data guide your actions. Avoid the temptation to average out exceptional weeks or months for sales projections—it's a common pitfall that can lead to costly mistakes.Strengthening Psychological ResilienceMaster stress management techniques to navigate the inevitable pressures of entrepreneurship. Discover the benefits of regular workouts, taking intentional breaks, prioritizing sleep, and injecting fun and connection into your routine. Recognize that a healthy mindset is a powerful asset in the world of e-commerce.Building a Robust Support NetworkForge connections with fellow entrepreneurs and seek mentorship. Networking is not only about professional connections but also about building a personal support system. Lean on family and friends, as their encouragement and understanding can be invaluable during challenging times. Embrace the strength derived from building a community that understands the unique challenges of the e-commerce landscape.In conclusion, as an Amazon seller, mastering the delicate dance between time and financial pressures is a continuous learning process. By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide,
When it comes to social media traffic there are two types – organic (or unpaid) traffic. Which takes time and energy – and then there is paid traffic, which you get by spending ad budget. In this episode we’ll explain how to optimize organic social media traffic.
Why organic (unpaid) social media is a good place to start your traffic generating efforts. How to use Facebook most effectively for organic social engagement How Reddit and Quora can be used to generate organic social traffic The most effective way to use Instagram for organic social engagement Why Pinterest is frequently the powerhouse that gets very little time and attention – and how to correct that and profit. Tools you can use to make your social media efforts simpler. The Vayner Media (Gary Vee) content strategy that Jason learned from his interview with them for the Instagram Power book.
Resources Mentioned:
www.9mountains.com https://hootsuite.com Planoly Promo Republic Instagram Power Pinterest Power Youtube Marketing Power
Getting started as an e-commerce seller can feel intimidating in quite a few ways. One of the ways is the feeling that you have to spend a large budget just to get started. In today’s show our panel explores how you can use just $100 to get started in eCommerce.
We explore physical product options, how to work with Kindle and physical books. We touch on marketing on and off Amazon. We also discuss how to approach influencers in an original way. We touch on how to approach a potential business mentor, and how you might put together your own peer group for peer-to-peer learning as well. What you’ll learn
How to use Kindle books as cheap marketing tools How to approach an experienced potential e-commerce mentor Ways to influence multiple influencers for $100! The easiest way to get started in eCommerce for $100 Why checking product-market fit might be the best use of your budget! The hack for getting free marketing books to learn from When should you quit the day job and go full time with your own ecommerce business?
In our initial episode about Paid Social” we outlined 3 big goals. In today’s conversation we’re continuing the discussion about how to engage warm traffic with effective social media advertising. What you’ll learn
A 2 Step Process for getting cold traffic very inexpensively, then retargeting them via (Facebook). Engagement goals and other non-sales goals for warm traffic. remarketing via (Google Adwords). How Live-Commerce Techniques and goals are transforming e-commerce businesses Forming direct sales strategies with social ads
Resources Mentioned
www.streamyard.com www.commentsold.com
In our initial episode about Paid Social” we outlined 3 big goals. In today’s conversation we’re going to give you “The Secret” and really unpack the 3 big ideas with tons of actionable tips and insights for each. What you’ll learn
Who Paid Social Media Ads are ideal for The ideal sequence of when paid social media ads should be used A budget rule-of-thumb for paid social media advertising How long it takes to get results with paid social media ads A terrific Facebook Video Strategy that works really well in support of paid social ads. How Pinterest Promoted Pins factor into paid social media ads Ad Instagram Ad strategy that you can start with just a few dollars.
Entrepreneurship is not just about pursuing upside potential; it's also about managing risks effectively. When it comes to scaling e-commerce brands with minimal capital, having a robust supply chain strategy is crucial. In this blog post, we will explore the insights and expertise shared by Dayu Yang, founder of EcommOps, on how to master ecommerce supply chain strategy. With a focus on the target audience of e-commerce brand owners, we'll delve into the strategies and best practices that can help businesses thrive in a competitive market.Time Stamps0:00:00 | Exploring Fast Fashion Strategies and Supply Chain Flexibility with Daiyu Yang of Ecom Ops0:02:39 | Discussion on Risk Management and Maximizing Risk-Adjusted Upside in Entrepreneurship0:04:40 | "Exploring the Benefits of a Profit Share Model for Risk Management and Agility in eCommerce"0:07:04 | "The Benefits of Fast Fashion and the Risks of Private Label Manufacturing"0:10:29 | Discussion on the Business Model of Shein and Its Impact on Traditional Retailers0:11:49 | Exploring the Benefits of Fulfilling from China for E-Commerce Businesses0:15:46 | "The Importance of Choosing the Right Shipping Lines for Ecommerce Fulfillment"0:18:48 | "The Importance of Consistent Standards in the DTC World: A Discussion on Freight Shipping Mechanics"0:20:35 | "The Benefits of Working with a Local Fulfillment Center in China"0:24:19 | Heading: Bridging the Gap Between Western and Chinese Businesses Through Ecommerce Fulfillment0:26:41 | "The Complexity of Efficient and Cost-Effective Fulfillment at Scale"0:28:31 | Exploring the Benefits of Outsourcing Fulfillment and Supply Chain Management0:29:59 | Exploring the Benefits of a Strategic Supply Chain Strategy0:32:41 | Exploring Strategies for Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Business0:34:07 | Conversation with Diode, Founder of Ecomm Ops: Exploring the Benefits of Building a Profitable Business0:35:54 | Heading: Conversation with Fulfillment Expert on Minimum Order Requirements and Leveraging Chinese Strengths0:38:28 | Interview with Daiyu Young of Ecom Ops: Exploring Strategies for Building a Successful Ecommerce BusinessFast Fashion and the Power of IterationOne of the most successful case studies in the realm of supply chain strategy is the rise of fast fashion brands. Zara, for example, revolutionized the fashion industry by adopting a strategy that emphasized fast turnaround times and smaller batch sizes. By closely following trends, minimizing stockholding, and iterating their product offerings frequently, they became a force to be reckoned with. Today, brands like Shein have taken this model even further, achieving massive success by shipping directly from China and scaling rapidly based on demand. We'll explore how embracing smaller batch sizes and faster iteration can be advantageous for e-commerce brands seeking to stay ahead of the competition.Ensuring Consistency and Reliability in ShippingReliable shipping is a vital aspect of any successful supply chain strategy. For e-commerce businesses, it's essential to choose shipping lines that offer consistent delivery times. We'll delve into some recommended shipping lines, such as Yunexpress, 4px, CNE, and UBI, which have proven to be reliable and recognized by Amazon. These partners, along with expert intermediaries like EcommOps, help manage customs clearance and ensure smooth operations throughout the shipping process.Efficiency and Communication in FulfillmentEfficient fulfillment is a critical component of a well-executed supply chain strategy. By optimizing communication and collaboration between Chinese factories and fulfillment centers, e-commerce brands can streamline operations and reduce turnaround times. We'll explore how ongoing communication plays a crucial role in overcoming capacity constraints, avoiding mistakes, and ensuring timely order fulfillment.
Spending money on advertising on the social media websites can be incredibly valuable. Or you can waste a ton of time and money. In this episode we’ll help you dial up the former, and avoid the latter. Let’s start with a short-list of the sites we’re talking about.What you’ll learn The 3 “Big Goals” of paid social media advertising. Techniques for achieving each of the 3 big goals. The 6 Stages of the Loyalty Ladder How to work with influencers to accelerate your goals.
In this blog post, we will explore the concept of Fulfilment FBM China and its benefits for e-commerce brand owners looking to scale their businesses with minimal capital. We'll delve into the insights shared by Dayu Yang, founder of EcommOps, and gain valuable knowledge on how to leverage Fulfilment FBM China effectively.Time Stamps0:00:00 | Exploring Fulfillment Solutions for Amazon Sellers with Daiu Yang of Ecom Ops0:02:26 | Conversation with [Name], Former Product Manager and Boston Consulting Group Consultant, on Repositioning Business Using the Boston Consulting Group Matrix0:04:27 | Exploring the Benefits of Direct Fulfillment from China: A Conversation with [Name]0:05:58 | Exploring the Benefits of China Fulfillment for Businesses0:08:10 | Exploring the Benefits of Utilizing China Shipping for Amazon FBM Listings0:10:17 | Exploring the Benefits of International Shipping for Western Amazon Sellers0:12:13 | Exploring the Benefits of Long-Term Shipping for Western Brands0:17:24 | The Benefits of Establishing a Strong Brand: Lower Risk and Working Capital0:18:47 | Benefits of a Hybrid Supply Chain Model for FBA Sellers0:21:00 | Discussion on Logistics Chain and Inventory Management0:24:18 | Benefits of Fulfilling from China for US and EU Markets0:25:53 | The Benefits of Shipping Parcels from China to the US and EU0:29:56 | Conversation on Solving VAT Problems for Amazon Sellers in the EU0:31:18 | Balance Sheet Management: A Simple Tool for Risk Reduction and Capital Allocation0:33:05 | Exploring Cash Flow Strategies for Ecommerce Business Growth with Dia from EcomOpsDayu's Background and the Rise of Fulfilment FBM ChinaDayu Yang's journey began in the video game industry, where he learned the importance of acquiring users at a loss initially to maximize profits later. After obtaining an MBA and consulting in the retail and e-commerce sector, he started his own company, which was featured on Shark Tank. Dayu gained valuable experience in the end-to-end supply chain of e-commerce, specifically in dropshipping from China. Fulfilment FBM China emerged as a new approach, allowing businesses to ship products directly from China and retain control over the supply chain.Advantages of Fulfilment FBM ChinaWhy do brands choose Fulfilment FBM China? One primary reason is the significant time reduction in shipping products. While traditional freight can take months, Fulfilment FBM China allows for shipment in as little as three days. Additionally, the cost aspect is favorable, with end-to-end shipping costs, including CF air freight, customs, and last-mile postage, typically being comparable or even cheaper than alternative options.Competing with Chinese SellersAs an e-commerce brand owner, it's crucial to understand the competitive landscape when selling alongside Chinese sellers. While there may be challenges, Fulfilment FBM China provides an opportunity to compete effectively. By reducing inventory risk and planning for shorter lead times, businesses can maintain a healthy balance sheet. The ability to test additional markets without holding inventory in those regions offers a cost-effective way to expand internationally.Fulfilment FBM China for DTC BrandsFor brands with a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) focus, Fulfilment FBM China can serve as a backup when facing out-of-stock situations. While selling through FBM may result in a slight decrease in performance compared to FBA, it allows brands to continue generating sales and maintain visibility. Moreover, for Amazon sellers looking to venture into DTC, Fulfilment FBM China offers a smoother transition and ensures fulfillment continuity.Successful Case Studies and Unique Product ConsiderationsShein, a fast-fashion online player, stands as a prime example of a successful brand leveraging Fulfilment FBM China. With their direct shipping from China, they have achieved remarkable growth and surpassed competitors like Zara and H&M.
Paid search traffic is a terrific place to start your advertising efforts online. It flows logically out of your organic search efforts and can help you create a short-cut to success. People are looking for solutions and you have the opportunity to present your product as the solution. In this episode we dig into the value proposition of Google Adwords. In the 2nd episode in this conversation, we’ll focus on Amazon Advertising.You’ll learn Why search based marketing beats interruption based marketing, aka why Google Ads are better than social media ads. How Jason got a $40,000 a month Google Ad Grant Why use Google Text Ads Why use Google Retail / Shopping Ads The pros and cons of taking the DIY approach versus hiring someone to run your ads for you Why Google Shopping Actions create a powerful set of options. How Google is stepping into the E-commerce spaceResources mentioned Google Shopping Actions
Poor Branding in e-commerceEffective branding is crucial for e-commerce businesses on Amazon. As an owner of a 6- or 7-figure e-commerce business, it's critical to identify signs of poor branding. You then need to work out their underlying causes. Only then can you improve your brand's performance. In this post, we'll explore common red flags of poor branding on Amazon.Understanding the MetricsEvaluating Branding PerformanceTo assess branding effectiveness, monitoring key metrics is vital. Let's explore these essential indicators of poor branding. Conversion Rate: This metric shows the percentage of visitors who buy. A low conversion rate can show poor branding. That suggests a gap between your brand's promise and customer perception. Customer Reviews and Ratings: Feedback from customers shapes your brand's reputation. Negative reviews or low ratings might signal poor branding. This can crater conversion rates! Repeat Purchase Rate: This rate reflects brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. A low repeat purchase rate may suggest poor branding. Happy customers are more likely to come back to your brand. Brand Search Volume: The volume of searches for your brand name on Amazon reflects customer awareness and interest. Low search volume may show weak brand recognition and ineffective branding efforts. Price Premium: A premium price compared to competitors can be a sign of strong branding. A lack of a price premium may suggest that your brand is not perceived as distinct or valuable.Case Study: Conversion Rate and Poor Branding (RavPower)Let's explore RavPower, an electronic accessories seller on Amazon.RavPower observed a low conversion rate despite receiving many visitors to their product pages. They discovered that their product images were poor at showcasing features. Their product descriptions lacked clarity. To change this, RavPower invested in professional product photography and improved descriptions. As a result, their conversion rate improved, leading to higher sales.Poor Branding vs Market Choice - which is driving the bad metrics?It's a must to recognize branding limitations, especially when it comes to market choice. Entering a hyper-competitive market can present challenges in establishing a strong brand presence. Thorough market research is essential.The Star Principle, aka the BCG growth matrix, teaches the critical value of being the market leader. It's mission-critical to only go into markets where your products can be the market leader. If one or two big players dominate your market, move on!Case Study: Element26 and Overcoming Market ChallengesElement26, specializing in weightlifting belts, is as an inspiring case. The brand won market share in a highly competitive industry. Element 26 had high expertise, total commitment and enough funds. Jason Franciosa's business partner had a PhD in physiotherapy. They were and are obsessive cross-fit enthusiasts. And they had solid funding. As a result, Element26 differentiated their brand and emerged as market leaders. This is not normal. It is very hard to do this! Unless you are as expert, fanatical and funded as these guys, don't do it!Common Root Causes of Poor BrandingIdentifying the underlying causes of poor branding is crucial to addressing them effectively. Let's explore some common root causes. Inconsistent or Confusing Messaging. When your brand has an inconsistent or unclear message across different channels, it's confusing. Customers struggle to understand and connect with your brand. Lack of Brand Identity and Differentiation. Without a distinct identity and value proposition, your brand will not stand out from competitors. This makes it hard to capture customers' attention and establish long-term brand loyalty. Poor Product Quality: Product quality is the foundation stone on which all brands are built. If your brand delivers subpar or mediocre products,
As an e-commerce brand owner, you may find yourself struggling to scale your business with minimal capital. One of the key challenges you may face is optimizing your advertising to sales ratio (A/S) for Amazon. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of Amazon advertising optimization, and provide you with actionable strategies to help you stop the leaks and boost your sales.Welcome to our topic on Amazon advertising optimization. In this post, we will cover the importance of maintaining a balanced A/S ratio for business success and provide you with key strategies to optimize your A/S ratio.The A/S ratio is a key metric that measures the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns in generating sales. It is calculated by dividing your ad spend by your total sales. Maintaining a balanced A/S ratio is crucial for business success, as it ensures that your advertising campaigns are generating a positive return on investment.Key Strategies to Optimize Your A/S RatioImproving ad targeting and keyword selectionUsing relevant keywords is key to optimizing your A/S ratio. You can use tools and techniques for keyword research and choose between long-tail and short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords may drive more profits with lower sales volume, while short-tail keywords may drive more sales but require monitoring profitability.Adjusting advertising budgetEvaluating ad spend efficiency is crucial for determining your advertising budget. Although Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is a good metric, it is important to monitor your ranking organically for each keyword. Scaling up or down based on performance and allocating budget across different campaigns can also help you optimize your A/S ratio.Enhancing product listings and optimizing for conversionsHigh-quality product images, compelling product titles and descriptions, bullet points, and A+ content can enhance your product listings and optimize for conversions. Price is also an important factor to consider in optimizing your product listings.Utilizing promotions and discounts to drive salesRunning limited-time promotions, offering discounts or bundling products, and leveraging Amazon promotions tools can help you drive sales and optimize your A/S ratio.Monitoring and adjusting A/S ratio over timeContinuously reviewing ad performance, making data-driven decisions for optimization, and periodically reassessing A/S ratio goals can help you monitor and adjust your A/S ratio over time.Tips for Balancing A/S Ratio Optimization with Other KPIsIdentifying other crucial KPIs for your businessIdentifying other crucial KPIs for your business, such as profit by product line and identifying your biggest profit-driving products, can help you manage your business with great focus and avoid micromanaging less high-performing products.Striking the right balance between A/S ratio and other KPIsStriking the right balance between A/S ratio and other KPIs, such as conversion rate and price, is important for business success.Importance of a holistic approach to business successTaking a holistic approach to business success, where the bottom line is the bottom line, is key to achieving long-term success.In conclusion, optimizing your A/S ratio is crucial for scaling your Amazon e-commerce business with minimal capital. We hope that these key strategies will help you stop the leaks and boost your sales.Thank you for reading our blog post on Amazon advertising optimization. We invite your feedback and suggestions for future topics. Don't hesitate to reach out to us on social media or via our contact information.
Expanding your business globally is a great way to scale your e-commerce brand. However, this process can be challenging, especially for small businesses with minimal capital. As an e-commerce brand owner, it is important to find ways to validate your products in different markets before investing a lot of money. In this post, we will discuss how to maximize your international Amazon expansion using surveys and image testing.Time Stamps0:00:00 | "Exploring International Expansion with PickFu Co-Founder Justin Chen"0:02:31 | Exploring International Markets on Amazon: A Discussion on Selling in Germany, the US, and Canada0:03:53 |"Testing Branding and Product Names for International Markets"0:05:18 | Exploring Cultural Considerations for Brand Names and Product Packaging0:07:22 | Exploring Cultural Differences in Marketing Strategies0:10:15 | "Exploring Different Cultural Mindsets for Ecommerce Marketers"0:12:19 | "Maximizing International Market Opportunities: Advice for Selling on Amazon in Germany"0:13:30 | "Understanding the Benefits of Demographic Targeting on Amazon for Increased Sales"0:15:21 | "Exploring International Targeting Options with PickFu"0:18:53 | Exploring International Expansion: Validation and Price Pressures in Different Countries0:20:19 | Exploring International Expansion Strategies for E-Commerce Sellers0:23:37 | "Exploring Cultural Differences in DIY: A Conversation with PickFu's CEO"0:24:41 | "Exploring the Benefits of PickFu for Market Research"0:26:41 | Interview with Justin Chen of PickFu : Validate Your Product Ideas Early for Stress-Free ScalingMarket Validation for ProductsWhen expanding your business internationally, it is essential to validate your products in different markets. This process involves testing your products with potential customers in the target market to understand their preferences and buying habits. This is where surveys and image testing come in handy.What Should You Test?It is important to note that when conducting surveys and image testing for international Amazon expansion, you should not just test your main image. Other factors, such as your brand name and logo, should be tested too. You should also consider adjusting your brand messaging and positioning to appeal to the local audience.For instance, it is essential to ensure that your brand name is not offensive in the local language. Additionally, it is important to understand the local culture and their buying habits. For example, there may be differences in shopping habits between the USA and the UK. Even brand colors can have associations that may not translate well in different cultures.Product Packaging TestingProduct packaging is also an important factor to consider when expanding your business internationally. You need to test how the information is presented and whether bold marketing claims are effective. It is essential to be more factual by listing features instead of making exaggerated claims.You can use open-ended questions to gather more information from potential customers. For example, if you are targeting a German audience and selling teapots, you could ask what is important to them when buying a teapot. By doing this, you can understand the local preferences and tailor your product accordingly.Understanding the CultureBefore jumping straight into testing your main image, it is essential to understand the local culture first. You can ask conversational questions to get into their mindset. For instance, you can ask about the important shopping milestones of the year or what German moms care about in their schooling.Demographic TargetingWhen conducting surveys and image testing for international Amazon expansion, you can target specific demographics to get more accurate results. The basic targeting options, such as age and gender,
Paid search traffic is a terrific place to start your advertising efforts online. It flows logically out of your organic search efforts and can help you create a short-cut to success. People are looking for solutions and you have the opportunity to present your product as the solution. In this episode we dig into the value proposition of Google Adwords. In the 2nd episode in this conversation, we’ll focus on Amazon Advertising.You’ll learn Why search based marketing beats interruption based marketing, aka why Google Ads are better than social media ads. How Jason got a $40,000 a month Google Ad Grant Why use Google Text Ads Why use Google Retail / Shopping Ads The pros and cons of taking the DIY approach versus hiring someone to run your ads for you Why Google Shopping Actions create a powerful set of options. How Google is stepping into the E-commerce spaceResources mentioned Google Shopping Actions
Welcome to our blog post, "Unveiling the Secrets: What the Advertising to Sales Ratio on Amazon Reveals About Your E-commerce Business." In this post, we will delve into the importance of understanding the Advertising to Sales Ratio (A/S) on Amazon and how it can provide valuable insights for e-commerce brand owners. With the objective of helping you scale your brands with minimal capital, we will explore the significance of the A/S ratio and how it can optimize your business on Amazon.Understanding Advertising to Sales RatioTo make informed decisions about your advertising campaigns, it's crucial to comprehend the concept of the Advertising to Sales Ratio. This ratio represents the relationship between your advertising spend and your total sales on Amazon. By calculating the A/S ratio (Ad Spend / Total Sales), you gain insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of your advertising efforts. This knowledge is particularly valuable for e-commerce sellers on Amazon.Reality of E-commerceIn today's competitive e-commerce landscape, clear communication and strategic planning are vital to success. Just as miscommunication during the Charge of the Light Brigade led to tragic consequences, poor communication and planning in e-commerce can hinder growth and profitability. Understanding and leveraging the A/S ratio is one of the keys to overcoming these challenges and scaling your business effectively on Amazon.Interpreting Your A/S RatioTo harness the power of the A/S ratio, it's essential to interpret its implications accurately. Evaluating your A/S ratio involves examining the relationship between your ad spend and organic sales. A low A/S ratio indicates efficient ad spend and strong organic sales, highlighting a healthy advertising strategy. Conversely, a high A/S ratio suggests inefficient ad spend or low organic sales, indicating the need for optimization and adjustment.Benchmarking your A/S ratio against industry standards and competitors is another valuable practice. By understanding how your ratio compares to others in your niche, you can identify areas for improvement and strive for excellence.Additionally, consider the role of the product lifecycle in interpreting your A/S ratio. Different stages of the lifecycle may require different advertising strategies, and understanding this relationship empowers you to make data-driven decisions.III. A/S Ratio as a Component of Overall Business HealthWhile the A/S ratio is a critical metric, it should be viewed as part of the bigger picture. Balancing the A/S ratio with other key performance indicators (KPIs) allows for a comprehensive evaluation of your Amazon e-commerce business. Key metrics to consider alongside the A/S ratio include conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value. Analyzing these metrics collectively provides a holistic view of your business's health and performance.In conclusion, understanding the Advertising to Sales Ratio on Amazon is crucial for e-commerce brand owners looking to scale their businesses with minimal capital. By analyzing and interpreting your A/S ratio, you can make informed decisions about your advertising strategies, optimize your campaigns, and drive business success on Amazon. We encourage you to continue monitoring and optimizing your A/S ratio as an ongoing practice to stay ahead of the competition and achieve long-term growth.Next Episode: Tactics to Optimize Your A/S RatioIn our next blog post, we will dive into practical tactics to optimize your A/S ratio. We will explore strategies such as improving ad targeting and keyword selection, adjusting your advertising budget, enhancing product listings for higher conversions, utilizing promotions and discounts, and continuously monitoring and adjusting your A/S ratio over time. Stay tuned for valuable insights and actionable tips to take your e-commerce business to the next level.
If you're an e-commerce brand owner, you know that product validation is crucial to the success of your business. By validating your product early on, you can ensure that it will resonate with your target market and save money on expensive late changes. This is where PickFu comes in. In this article, we'll dive into what PickFu is and how to use it for product validation.Time Stamps0:00:00 | "Exploring Digital Focus Groups with Justin Chen of PickFu"0:03:10 | "Exploring PickFu: A Simplified Market Research Tool for SMBs"0:05:18 | Exploring the Benefits of Consumer Research for Amazon Sellers with PickFu0:08:44 | "Product Validation: Leveraging Helium Ten to Ensure Your Product Resonates with Your Target Market"0:10:00 | "Product Validation: Using Pickfu for Early Feedback"0:11:41 | "The Benefits of Early Validation in Product Development"0:14:35 | "Using PickFu to Validate Product Offerings for Market Success"0:16:01 | "The Benefits of Image Split Testing for Product Validation"0:19:45 | The Importance of Image Testing in Marketplaces: A Discussion on Seeking Genuine Feedback0:23:50 | "Using PickFu to Test Product Variations and Gather Public Opinion"0:27:07 | Split Testing Images and Copy for Ecommerce Validation0:28:44 | "Exploring the Benefits of AI Writing Tools for Business-to-Consumer Marketing"0:30:07 | "Exploring the Benefits of PickFu: A Conversation with [Name]"0:31:40 | "Exploring PollsPlus: An Overview of the Platform's Features and International Expansion Opportunities"0:33:50 | "Product Validation with Justin from PickFu: A Discussion on International Expansion"What is PickFu?PickFu is a digital focus group that allows you to get consumer feedback on any aspect of your market. It's a survey tool that lets you gather consumer feedback on your product or idea, and then filters through the data to provide you with the results. PickFu brings enterprise market research to SME businesses and has been used by self-publishing authors on Amazon to validate their book titles, as well as e-commerce brands to optimize their main product images.Using image split-testing (PickFu) for Product ValidationThe co-founders of PickFu, Justin Chen and John Li, are software engineers who were working on a website redesign and needed feedback. They wanted to validate their ideas through real-world feedback, so they went to coffee shops and asked people what they thought. They quickly realized that there was a need for a tool that made it easy to get this type of feedback, and PickFu was born.Product validation ensures that your product will resonate with your target market as early in the process as possible. Early changes are easy and cheap, while late changes are hard and expensive. Product validation comes in two forms: open-ended surveys and split testing.How to Use PickFu for Product ValidationWhen it comes to split testing, you can use PickFu to test hypotheticals, variations against each other, and variations against the competition. For example, if you want to go into the infusion teapot market, you can create 3D renders of your product and put an image up against the top 2-3 competitors in the market, potentially testing price and title as well. This will help you determine if you can make a dent in the market.It's important to compare with the competition before you compare your own images. The marketplace is visual, and people will only stop and click on things that are visually appealing. People aren't often searching by brand, so it's important to ensure that your product stands out.PickFu can also be used to compare marketing copy, actual product concepts and images, product variation testing, and even bundles and pricing. For example, you can test the pricing of a bundle, such as offering 1 at x price or 3 at y price.
How do you make decisions wisely and profitably?One of the most important things you can do in business is to get good at decision making. It may feel at times that all that matters is action. Certainly, action counts for a huge amount. Without action, nothing happens in your business. But that can lead to a big delusion: that what matters is just following a playbook. Do certain things in a certain order and hey, presto! A business that works.In reality, actions that matter are preceded by clear, high-quality decisions.The question then becomes how to make such good decisions.It could be Jeff Bezos’s famous “Type 1 and Type 2 Decisions” differentiation. It could be clarifying the nature of the goals is you’re pursuing. It could be getting clear on the deceptively simple question “What do I really want?”Whatever the principles you follow, the way you approach decisions can have a powerful impact on the actions you and your team take. Which in turn changes the results you produce.What you’ll learn What all decisions force you to do The more important decision than “How do I make money online?” Jeff Bezos’s two decision types The 5 money goal types Jason has identified What “Return on Luck” is and why it matters Why momentum matters more than the perfect playbookResources mentioned Greg McKeown: Essentialism Greg McKeown: Effortless Principles by Ray Dalio Atomic Habits by James Clear The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
As an Amazon seller, you’re always looking for ways to grow your business while keeping your expenses in check. One way to achieve this is by speeding up your cash conversion cycle using good debt. In this episode of the "Protect Your Amazon Profit" series, we'll explore how you can optimize your accounts receivable and payable to increase profitability.Managing accounts receivable and payable is essential for e-commerce brand owners, especially Amazon sellers. Efficient cash management can help to reduce working capital, minimize risks, and grow a business organically. In this episode, we will discuss how you can make more profit from the same capital by speeding up your cash conversion cycle using good debt.Importance of Managing Accounts Receivable and Payable for Amazon sellersAs an Amazon seller, managing your cash conversion cycle is critical to increasing your profitability and business growth. The cash conversion cycle formula is a measure of how long it takes for a company to convert its investments in inventory and other resources into cash flows from sales. In this episode, we'll explore how you can speed up your cash conversion cycle using good debt, negotiate favorable payment terms with suppliers, and optimize your accounts receivable and payable. This episode is to provide Amazon sellers with practical strategies for optimizing their cash conversion cycle, reducing working capital, minimizing risks, and increasing profitability using good debt. Why This Matters Reduce Working Capital By optimizing your cash conversion cycle, you can reduce your working capital needs, freeing up capital for other investments or reducing your need for external financing. Minimizing Risks By improving your accounts receivable and payable management, you can minimize the risks associated with inventory stockouts, delayed payments, and other supply chain disruptions. Grow Organically By reducing your working capital needs and increasing your profitability, you can grow your business organically, without the need for external investment or loans. More Sellable Business By optimizing your cash conversion cycle, you can increase the value of your business and make it more attractive to potential buyers or investors. More Investable By improving your profitability and reducing your need for external financing, your business becomes more investable and can attract higher valuations and better returns on equity. More Lendable If you do need external financing, optimizing your cash conversion cycle can make your business more lendable and improve your cash flow.What We Want Negotiating Favorable Payment Terms with Suppliers Negotiating favorable payment terms with your suppliers can help you manage your cash flow more effectively and reduce your working capital needs. For example, you can negotiate longer payment terms, such as 60 or 90 days, or ask for discounts for early payments. Leveraging Supplier Credit Using supplier credit can help you reduce your working capital needs and improve your cash conversion cycle. By using supplier credit, you can delay payments for inventory until after you have sold it, reducing the need for upfront capital.Classic Mistakes to Avoid Poorly Negotiating Payment Terms with Suppliers If you don't negotiate favorable payment terms with your suppliers, you may be forced to pay upfront for inventory or make payments before you receive payment from your customers. This can strain your cash flow and increase your working capital needs. Having No Cashflow Projections Without accurate cash flow projections, you may not have a clear understanding of your working capital needs or be able to plan for future investments or financing needs. Ignoring Cash Flow Projections Even if you have cash flow projections, ignoring them can be just as damaging.
Starting an E-commerce business on Amazon can be a lucrative venture for entrepreneurs. The Amazon platform offers a ready-made audience for online sellers, making it easier to reach a larger customer base than starting a standalone e-commerce website. However, starting an e-commerce business on Amazon requires a lot of planning, education, and capital. This article will outline the key factors required to start an e-commerce business on Amazon.Time Stamps0:00:00 | "Starting a Profitable Ecommerce Business on Amazon: What You Need to Know"0:04:07 | "Getting Started with Amazon FBA: What You Need to Know"0:05:01 | Exploring the Amazon Automation Industry: Vetting the Right Place to Invest Capital0:06:30 | Heading: Questions to Ask When Partnering with an Amazon FBA Company0:10:54 | Exploring the Benefits of Amazon Automation for Business Growth and Investment0:14:29 | "Exploring the Relationship Between Ecommerce and Alternative Investment Opportunities"0:15:31 | Exploring the Benefits of Licensing for Businesses Selling on Amazon0:17:55 | "Understanding the Value of Licensing Agreements in Wholesale Businesses"0:19:07 | Heading: Exploring Unique Investment Opportunities with Ascend Cap Ventures0:20:55 | Exploring International Markets for Amazon Businesses0:22:44 | Interview with Will from Ascend Cap Ventures: Exploring Monumental Growth in the National MarketFactors Required to Start an E-commerce Business on AmazonTimeStarting an e-commerce business on Amazon requires a considerable amount of time investment. One must invest time in research, sourcing products, setting up an Amazon seller account, and creating product listings. It is also essential to spend time analyzing data and adjusting strategies to improve sales.MoneyStarting an e-commerce business on Amazon also requires a significant financial investment. You need to invest in inventory, product listing fees, and advertising to increase visibility and drive sales. Additionally, you may need to hire experts in areas such as product photography, copywriting, and SEO to optimize product listings.PatienceStarting an e-commerce business on Amazon requires patience. It takes time to gain traction and build a loyal customer base. It is essential to be patient and persistent, even when facing setbacks.Acceptance of FailureStarting an e-commerce business on Amazon involves a significant risk of failure. Accepting that failure is possible and that not all products will generate profit is crucial. Being willing to pivot strategies and try new approaches is critical to long-term success.Bringing in the Right Third-PartiesOne of the most crucial factors in starting an e-commerce business on Amazon is bringing in the right third parties. There are several third parties you may need to work with to run a successful Amazon business.You Need a 3PL Partner for ScalabilityTo scale your e-commerce business, you need a third-party logistics (3PL) partner. A 3PL partner will help you manage your inventory, store, and fulfill orders. However, finding a 3PL partner that does not cut into your profit margin is challenging. You can start by prepping your products out of your garage or having your suppliers pre-prep them for Amazon, but that takes a lot of work.EducationTo start an e-commerce business on Amazon, you need to educate yourself. There are plenty of resources available, including books, blogs, and courses. You should take advantage of these resources and learn about different sourcing strategies, scaling techniques, and how to optimize your Amazon business.Scaling Requires More than One PersonScaling an e-commerce business on Amazon requires more than one person. You need a team of experts to handle different aspects of your business, including product sourcing, marketing, inventory management, and logistics.
What are first principles? And are there any for e-commerce sellers? In this episode we’ll explore that topic and explain how e-commerce first principles apply to your business in a powerful way.What you’ll learn The 3 Parts Of 1st Principles Thinking Applied To e-commerce. They are: 1.Identify and define your current assumptions. 2.Break down the problem into it’s fundamental principles. 3.Create new solutions The 5 Questions To Ask Yourself To Apply 1st Principles To E-commerce. They are: 1.What Am I working on right now? 2.What assumptions do I have about how this will help me? 3.Why do I think it will add business value? 4.How much am I spending in time or money? 5.Which basic economic or psychological principles involved? What Elon Musk Says about 1st Principles Thinking.Resources Mentioned The Goal, Eliyahu Godratt E-myth Revisited Blue Ocean Strategy Marketing Warfare (Al Reis & Jack Trout)
Welcome to the fifth episode of our "Protect Your Amazon Profit" series. In this episode, we'll be discussing how to maximize your profit with the cash conversion cycle formula. As an e-commerce brand owner on Amazon, it's essential to scale your brand with minimal capital. Optimizing your cash conversion cycle is one way to achieve this goal. This post aims to provide you with the necessary information and tips to improve your cash conversion cycle and scale your brand successfully.Importance of optimizing cash conversion cycle for Amazon sellersOptimizing your cash conversion cycle is critical for Amazon sellers. It's a metric that measures how long it takes for your company to convert resources into cash flow. The faster you can convert your resources into cash, the more profitable your business will be. Helping you maximize your profit with the cash conversion cycle formula. We'll discuss its importance, why it matters, what we want, classic mistakes to avoid, and five to ten talking points to help you optimize your cash conversion cycle.Why This MattersDirect impact on profitabilityOptimizing your cash conversion cycle has a direct impact on your profitability. The faster you can convert resources into cash, the more capital you'll have available to invest in growing your business.Grow faster By improving your cash conversion cycle, you can grow your business faster. You'll have the capital available to invest in inventory, marketing, and other growth initiatives.Improving business sustainability Optimizing your cash conversion cycle can improve the sustainability of your business. It ensures that you have the capital to meet your financial obligations and invest in growth.Lower investment for same profit! By optimizing your cash conversion cycle, you can achieve the same level of profit with lower investment. E. Lower or no debt for same profit You can achieve the same level of profit with lower or no debt by optimizing your cash conversion cycle. F. More sellable business! By optimizing your cash conversion cycle, you'll have a more sellable business. Investors and buyers value businesses that have a strong cash conversion cycle.What We WantQuicker inventory turnover To improve your cash conversion cycle, you want to achieve quicker inventory turnover. You should aim to keep your inventory moving as quickly as possible.Faster accounts receivable collection You should aim to collect accounts receivable as quickly as possible to improve your cash conversion cycle.Efficient accounts payable management Efficient accounts payable management is critical to optimizing your cash conversion cycle. You should aim to pay your suppliers as slowly as possible without hurting your relationships with them.Classic Mistakes to AvoidOverstocking inventory Overstocking inventory can tie up your capital and hurt your cash conversion cycle. You should aim to keep your inventory levels as lean as possible.Poorly negotiating payment terms with suppliers Poorly negotiating payment terms with suppliers can hurt your cash conversion cycle. You should aim to negotiate payment terms that are favorable to your business.Having no cash flow projections Having no cash flow projections can hurt your cash conversion cycle. You should aim to create cash flow projections to help you plan and manage your business.Ignoring them! Ignoring your cash conversion cycle can hurt your business. You should aim to monitor and improve your cash conversion cycle regularly.Main Body: 5-10 Talking PointsAccurate demand forecasting Accurate demand forecasting can help you optimize your inventory levels and improve your cash conversion cycle.Smart inventory management techniquesSmart inventory management techniques, such as just-in-time inventory management, can help you keep your inventory levels lean and improve your cashGet a free Amazon profit auditGet a free audit from me, Michael Veazey,
The current political climate and global health crisis have disrupted many aspects of the supply chain, including sourcing from China. For ecommerce businesses, this means finding alternative sourcing solutions outside of China. One potential solution is sourcing from Latin America, which offers a growing consumer market and proximity advantages.In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of sourcing from Latin America, how to start sourcing from the region, and other potential sourcing options outside of China.Time Stamps0:00:00 | "Exploring Sourcing from China with Will Bastard of Ascend Cap Ventures"0:03:05 | Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Sourcing from Latin America with Will0:03:38 | Exploring the Benefits of Manufacturing in Latin America for Businesses0:07:06 | Exploring the Benefits of Sourcing from Latin America for US Businesses0:09:07 | Exploring Opportunities in Latin America: Networking Strategies for Business Owners0:10:03 | Exploring Alternatives to China for Sourcing and Manufacturing0:14:13 | Discussion on US-China Relations and Dependence on China in Asia0:15:39 | Interview with Will Bastian of Ascend Cap Ventures: Global Sourcing and Starting an Ecommerce Business on Amazon in 2023 and BeyondThe Challenges of Sourcing from ChinaChina has been a dominant force in the global manufacturing industry for decades, with many businesses relying on China for their sourcing needs. However, recent events have highlighted the potential risks and challenges of relying solely on China for sourcing.Geopolitical tensions between China and other countries, such as the United States, can lead to trade barriers, tariffs, and other disruptions. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused logistical and supply chain issues, such as factory shutdowns and delays in shipping.Sourcing from Latin AmericaAs China sourcing becomes more challenging, many businesses are turning to Latin America as an alternative. The region offers several advantages, including a growing consumer market and proximity to the United States.Tampa Bay in Florida, for example, is a popular location for businesses sourcing from Latin America due to its proximity to ports and transportation infrastructure. While labor costs may be slightly higher than in China, other factors, such as reduced lead times, can offset this cost.Other potential sourcing locations outside of China include Southeast Asia and India. Vietnam, in particular, has emerged as a strong alternative to China, with a growing manufacturing sector and a relatively stable political climate.Starting to Source from Latin AmericaIf you’re interested in sourcing from Latin America, it’s important to know the right people. Networking events, trade shows, and conferences can be valuable resources for making connections with potential suppliers and partners.One way to start building relationships is to attend industry events in Latin America, such as the eCommerce Summit in Buenos Aires or the Latin American Ecommerce Forum in Santiago. These events can provide opportunities to meet with local suppliers and distributors and learn about the region’s ecommerce market.It’s also important to have a clear understanding of the regulatory and legal requirements for sourcing from Latin America. This may include understanding customs regulations, import/export requirements, and taxes and tariffs.Mitigating Sourcing RiskOne of the challenges of sourcing from outside China is the potential risk of supply chain disruptions. To mitigate this risk, it’s important to diversify your sourcing options and avoid concentrating your supply chain in just one region.This may involve sourcing from multiple countries or regions, or even sourcing from different suppliers within the same region. Additionally, it’s important to have contingency plans in place to address any supply c...
What are first principles? And are there any for e-commerce sellers? In this episode we’ll explore that topic and explain how e-commerce first principles apply to your business in a powerful way.What you’ll learn The 3 Parts Of 1st Principles Thinking Applied To e-commerce. They are: 1.Identify and define your current assumptions. 2.Break down the problem into it’s fundamental principles. 3.Create new solutions The 5 Questions To Ask Yourself To Apply 1st Principles To E-commerce. They are: 1.What Am I working on right now? 2.What assumptions do I have about how this will help me? 3.Why do I think it will add business value? 4.How much am I spending in time or money? 5.Which basic economic or psychological principles involved? What Elon Musk Says about 1st Principles Thinking.Resources Mentioned The Goal, Eliyahu Godratt E-myth Revisited Blue Ocean Strategy Marketing Warfare (Al Reis & Jack Trout)
Starting a wholesale sourcing business for Amazon can be a lucrative venture, but like any business, it requires some initial capital investment. Ascend Capventures is a company that builds and runs Amazon businesses for people. They offer services covering market and product choices, logistics, Amazon account management, and various business models such as direct from manufacturers, direct from wholesalers, and developing products. In this article, we will discuss the capital required to start a wholesale sourcing business for Amazon, the minimum working capital, and the factors that affect profit margins.Time Stamps0:00:00 | "Welcome to the Ten K Collective Podcast: A Conversation with Will Bastard of Ascend Cap Ventures on Building and Running Amazon Businesses"0:03:12 | "Exploring the Capital Requirements for Starting and Scaling a Custom Product Business"0:04:03 | Conversation on Estimating Capital Requirements for Wholesale and Direct Manufacturer Business Models0:05:51 | Heading: Benefits of Investing with Our Company0:07:27 | Exploring the Benefits of Working with a Wholesale Management Partner0:11:06 | Exploring Margin Changes in Ecommerce Business Models0:14:25 | Exploring the Benefits of Private Label and Custom Product Sourcing on Amazon0:16:10 | Private Label Business: Sourcing Manufacturers and Developing Products0:16:59 | "Reflecting on the Benefits of Bulk Sourcing with Will Buster of Ascend Cap Ventures"0:18:53 | Exploring Private Label and Wholesale Sourcing for Amazon Businesses with Will from Ascend Cap VenturesStarting an Amazon Wholesale Sourcing Business: Required CapitalStarting a wholesale sourcing business for Amazon can be a lucrative venture, but like any business, it requires some initial capital investment. Ascend Capventures is a company that builds and runs Amazon businesses for people. They offer services covering market and product choices, logistics, Amazon account management, and various business models such as direct from manufacturers, direct from wholesalers, and developing products. In this article, we will discuss the capital required to start a wholesale sourcing business for Amazon, the minimum working capital, and the factors that affect profit margins.Understanding Infrastructure Fees and Working Capital MinimumsAscend Capventures offers infrastructure fees that start at $20,000, which includes access to their warehouse facilities in the USA and their team of hundreds of employees. This is similar to a franchising cost, and they also offer customized plans for aged businesses. However, in addition to the infrastructure fee, they also require a minimum working capital of $15,000.Why is the working capital set at $15,000? According to Ascend Capventures, this amount enables them to get the best initial deal from a good supplier and negotiate the minimum order quantity (MOQ) down as low as possible. This is based on their internal data and experiences, and they guarantee a sell-through in 90 days or refund the client. If the working capital is less than $15,000, building a business from scratch will lead to very low margins.For instance, if you pay $20,000 for infrastructure with a low $15,000 capital, you will only get a 20% margin on $5,000. Therefore, it is crucial to have enough working capital to generate strong profit margins.Product Sourcing: Essential Working Capital MinimumsThe minimum working capital required for products is also essential. Ascend Capventures recommends a minimum of $10,000 to $15,000, depending on the product and supplier. This will enable you to purchase the products in bulk, negotiate better deals with suppliers, and have enough inventory to meet the demand.Maximizing Profit Margins: Key Factors to ConsiderThe profit margins in a wholesale sourcing business for Amazon depend on several factors, including the supplier,
In this episode we get a real-time update from Jason – he’s in the middle of managing a 5 day challenge for e-commerce sellers. Anyone wanting to develop their Amazon business with a customer challenge, or thinking of running a live event, whether to sell products or training, should have plenty to learn from Jason’s experiences this week. He’s got 400 participants – in this episode we’ll find out how it’s going, what behind the scenes lessons he’s learned, and even mistakes he’s made (and how he’s recovering from them).What you’ll learn What an online challenge is – and why consider managing one. Considerations for how long to run a challenge – the duration question. The goals and priorities of online challenges The psychology behind challenges How the Penny Gap applies to challenges How Clickfunnels can be used for online ChallengesResources for Amazon SEOKeyword Research/Keyword Ranking Taki Moore Book recommendation: $100M Pedro Adao is the expert on challenges
In this episode we get a real-time update from Jason – he’s in the middle of managing a 5 day challenge for e-commerce sellers. Anyone wanting to develop their Amazon business with a customer challenge, or thinking of running a live event, whether to sell products or training, should have plenty to learn from Jason’s experiences this week. He’s got 400 participants – in this episode we’ll find out how it’s going, what behind the scenes lessons he’s learned, and even mistakes he’s made (and how he’s recovering from them).What you’ll learn What an online challenge is – and why consider managing one. Considerations for how long to run a challenge – the duration question. The goals and priorities of online challenges The psychology behind challenges How the Penny Gap applies to challenges How Clickfunnels can be used for online ChallengesResources for Amazon SEOKeyword Research/Keyword Ranking Taki Moore Book recommendation: $100M Pedro Adao is the expert on challenges
In the world of e-commerce, finding a niche and building a strong brand is crucial to success. One way to do this is by identifying a gap in the market and creating a product that fills that gap. For Jake, the founder of a successful unisex skincare brand, this meant creating a product that was efficient, fast, and appealing to a broader range of men and women. In this article, we will explore how Jake identified a niche, created a unisex skincare brand, and used fast wins and efficiency to build a valuable e-commerce brand.Timestamps0:00:00 | Interview with Jake Rosenberg, Founder and CEO of Crete Skincare Company0:02:23 | Conversation on Skincare Company and Market Response0:04:00 | Exploring the Shift from Male-Focused Skincare to Unisex with Crete Founder, David Lim0:07:36 | Exploring Masculine and Feminine Niches for Customer Experience Vibes0:09:02 | Exploring the Value Proposition of 1 Minute Skincare0:11:52 | Discussion on Aspirational Outcomes and Fast Wins in Product Development0:13:41 | Exploring the Psychology of Product Use: How to Create a Positive User Experience0:17:48 | The Benefits of Delivering Fast Wins for Business Success0:19:24 | Product Development: The Key to Capturing and Sustaining Attention in the Age of AttentionIdentifying a Niche: Creating a Unisex Skincare BrandJake's brand was born out of his own need for a skincare solution that was both effective and efficient. After suffering a skiing accident that left a mark on his nose, Jake realized the importance of skincare but found that the existing options on the market were either too time-consuming or too gendered. He wanted to create a skincare solution that would appeal to a broader range of men and women and would take no more than 30 seconds in the bathroom.Efficiency: The Key to a Successful E-commerce BrandJake knew that the most precious resource for his target audience was time. To create a successful e-commerce brand, he had to design a product that was efficient and easy to use. This meant creating a product that would provide fast wins – positive experiences in the first minute of use – and consistently deliver results.Fast Wins: Building Credibility and Creating Value for Your BrandFast wins are crucial to building credibility and creating value for your brand. For Jake's brand, this meant creating a product that would give users positive experiences in the first minute of use. This approach helped his brand stand out from the competition and gave users the confidence to continue using his products. The value proposition of his brand was clear – it was a unisex skincare solution that was fast, efficient, and consistently delivered results.ConclusionFinding a niche and building a strong brand in e-commerce requires a deep understanding of your target audience and their needs. For Jake, this meant identifying a gap in the market and creating a product that was efficient, fast, and appealing to a broader range of men and women. By focusing on fast wins and consistently delivering results, Jake was able to build a credible and valuable brand that has achieved great success in the competitive world of e-commerce.What services do you offer? CTA 1 Check out https://krete.club/ for USA/Canada CTA 2 Email Jake for mentoring or consulting about DTC business development or product development jake@krete.club or krete.club
Borrowing money to sustain or expand your business is one of the most controversial business decisions we all have to make. To Debt Or Not To Debt, That Is The Question & In this 2-part episode we’ll explore the issue, share personal insights and lessons, and encourage you to dig deeper with recommendations and resources.You’ll learn 7 Things Smart Business Owners Do When It Comes To Debt & Borrowing Tips on where to find effective funding in both the U.S. and U.K. The 2 factors banks use to evaluate your credit worthiness The #1 Skillset most top e-commerce sellers master and how it relates to debt The levels of risk appetite The riskiest financing moves you can make Recommendations for those considering using debt to growResources mentionedReid Hoffman Lecture At Stanford: Entrepreneurship: A High-risk Investment Facing Competition through Innovation Live Life in Permanent BetaE-commerce and Business Books mentioned Growing A Business, Paul Hawken
Chase Climber, co-founder of Electric.I, joins the podcast to discuss optimizing ecommerce stores. He explains that many Amazon sellers struggle to optimize their own store, and even sellers who are only on direct-to-consumer sites face similar issues. Electric.I creates Shopify powered sales machines from their sites with a strategic design approach and intelligent development decisions. He also hosts the Honest Ecommerce podcast with honest advice to increase sales and grow businesses. The key message of this episode is that to grow profits, sellers must cut waste and increase profitable sales, and the Quick Assessment at Amazonprofitquiz.com can help identify the biggest profit killer. Timestamps0:00:00 | Optimizing Your Ecommerce Store with Chase Climber of Electric.0:02:28 | Heading: Optimizing Existing Store: Is It Possible to Be Good at Both Amazon and Shopify?0:04:22 | Conversation on the Necessity of Specialized Heads for Ecommerce and Amazon Businesses0:06:08 | Analysis of Direct-to-Consumer vs. Reselling on Amazon: A Case Study0:07:42 | Analysis of Ecommerce Opportunity for Private Label Products0:12:22 | Heading: Strategies for Finding Product Market Fit0:13:24 | Analysis of Drop Shipping and Private Label Business Product Profitability0:16:03 | Exploring Strategies to Increase Average Order Value (AOV)0:17:48 | Case Study: Moving from Amazon to Direct Consumer with Limited Success0:20:59 | Conversation Summary: Building an Online Channel vs. Selling on Amazon0:22:49 | Optimizing a Shopify Store for Increased Conversion Rates0:26:06 | RO Retainer: A Case Study on Increasing Average Order Value by 25%0:30:55 | Exploring the Journey of Ecommerce with Honest Ecommerce Podcast0:31:55 | Interview with Chase Clymer: Discussing Electricy IO, Marketplace vs. Direct to Consumer, and CRO0:33:28 | Interview with Chase Climate of Electric Eye: A Crash Course in Brand Scaling for Amazon SellersEvery week I interview an amazing founder, and I'm basically trying to get the founder story in a sense of like, where did the idea come from? I think a lot of entrepreneurs out there want to start a brand, but figuring out what to do and just how the ideation worked is always curious. So I always ask them, where did this idea come from? And then I asked him kind of, what did they do next? How did they go from idea to either testing, which is what you should do, everybody, to then finding this product market fit, and then kind of like, okay, what's next from there? So a lot of our listeners are kind of in the scale from doing eight plus figures to just getting started. Right. So I kind of ask what the journey is about with all these founders. And then I also do bonus episodes every once in a while where I have subject matter experts on about things that are way smarter than me. So I'll have other agency owners in the ecosystem on, I'll have consultants, freelancers perhaps I'll have Michael on in the future talking about Amazon.We better cut to the bit where you obviously, I can feel your passion for conversion optimization and I love it because that's what makes more money for people. And I love that kind of work with clients for the same kind of reason that you do, I think, which is like, there's the thrill of the chase. How can I find the information I need? How can I make it better? You see, the numbers come out. But of course, you're giving money back to the consumer or the customer, or the client in this case, which is a beautiful thing. So a couple of things to point people to. First of all, you've got your Honest Ecommerce podcast.The math behind Ecommerce comes down to three KPIs, right? It's average order value, conversion rate and sessions. So this is on your own website on like, a shopify store.
Borrowing money to sustain or expand your business is one of the most controversial business decisions we all have to make. To Debt Or Not To Debt, That Is The Question & In this 2-part episode we’ll explore the issue, share personal insights and lessons, and encourage you to dig deeper with recommendations and resources.You’ll learn 7 Things Smart Business Owners Do When It Comes To Debt & Borrowing Tips on where to find effective funding in both the U.S. and U.K. The 2 factors banks use to evaluate your credit worthiness The #1 Skillset most top e-commerce sellers master and how it relates to debt The levels of risk appetite The riskiest financing moves you can make Recommendations for those considering using debt to growResources mentionedReid Hoffman Lecture At Stanford: Entrepreneurship: A High-risk Investment Facing Competition through Innovation Live Life in Permanent BetaE-commerce and Business Books mentioned Growing A Business, Paul Hawken
Chase Clymer, co-founder of Electric Eye and host of the Honest Ecommerce podcast, joined the Ten K Collective Podcast to discuss the transition from Amazon to Shopify. He recommends that if someone were to start an ecommerce brand today, they should use Amazon, even though they would need to learn a lot about the platform. He believes Amazon has a built-in audience and can help increase sales. He also recommends taking advantage of the Amazon Profit Quiz to help identify areas of waste and how to address them.Timestamps0:00:00 | Exploring the Benefits of Selling on Amazon vs. Shopify0:03:51 | Exploring the Benefits of Starting a Brand on Amazon vs. Building an Owned Audience0:05:22 | Product Market Fit: Finding the Right Balance for Ecommerce Success0:07:14 | Exploring the Transition from Amazon to Building Your Own Channel: A Discussion on Revenue and Product Strategy0:08:36 | Understanding Commodity vs. Average Order Value in Ecommerce0:11:22 | Exploring the Possibility of Transitioning to a Direct-to-Consumer Model0:12:37 | Exploring the Benefits of a Small Product Catalog for Ecommerce Stores0:14:34 | Discussion on Achieving an Average Order Value of $75+ with a 40%+ Profit Margin0:17:56 | Understanding the Necessary Numbers for Successful Paid Media Advertising0:19:23 | Heading: Examining the Benefits of a Profitable Product Line0:20:51 | Conversation on Optimizing Existing Stores and Electric Eye Services0:27:48 | Heading: Electrici IO Shopify Diagnostic for Amazon Seller0:29:01 | Exploring Shopify vs. Amazon: A Conversation with Chase Climber of Electric EyeHighlightsI try to get a little more technical and nerdy. I know people like to learn the specifics and stuff, but that's the majority of the show is those interviews with Brand founders and then we do a lot of bonus episodes as well where I'm interviewing subject matter experts, other agency owners or freelancers or consultants in the industry, people from apps or people kind of on the other side of the field.. Perhaps Michael will be on talking about Amazon soon. But yeah, the show is pretty fun. You can check it out.Absolutely. The number one way to increase your return on ad spend, which is constantly going up, well, the cost per ads is constantly going up. So the return on ad spend is constantly going down because your products probably aren't going up in price to match it. But back to what I was saying is like, the best way to increase your return on ad spend is to increase your average order value and to increase the conversion rate on your website, which is basically what CRO does.We're learning about the frustrations, the uncertainties, the reservations that their customers have through nerdy stuff like heat maps, scroll maps, customer interviews, building hypotheses onto as why they're not selling things or things are getting in their own way, where's the friction points of the website and making the website better. Right. We're doing kind of more traditional CRO stuff kind of within those things is we believe maintenance is kind of CRO as well. And so we kind of have a nice fluid retainer relationship with our clients where sometimes we do need to tackle something that's not as fun, but we'll get it done for them. In general, we're shopify experts through and through. We're not just saying it. We live it, breathe it, do it. It's all we do.So basically it comes down to two things. At Electric Eye, we are usually either migrating brands from a legacy platform over to shopify. We've done a few transitions or help people get set up from Amazon as well. I'll be very blunt with you about whether or not I think that's a good idea. And then so building that new stores, helping people with their themes, building, like, new designs for existing shopify stores.
As an entrepreneur, it's important to not only focus on building a profitable business but also to consider the potential for a future exit. In this blog post, we'll discuss some key factors that appeal to buyers and how you can increase your potential multiple for exit. We'll also take a look at the "Exit DNA" course by Mac Lackey, which offers valuable insights into the exit process.Time Stamps00:00 | "Delegating Your Way to a Sellable Business: A Conversation with Yoni Kozinski"03:30 | "The Benefits of Building a Business with a Clear Plan"04:41 | "Maximizing Your Exit Potential: Strategies for Achieving a Successful Acquisition"06:41 | "Strategies for Selling a Business: Understanding Aggregators and Prospective Buyers"08:24 | Exploring Strategies to Maximize Exit Value for Businesses14:00 | "Understanding the Challenges of Selling an Ecommerce Business"14:54 | Discussion on Setting Financial Objectives for Business Success16:45 | Exploring the Process of Preparing to Sell a Business: A Discussion19:54 | "Maximizing Your Business Multiple: A Step-by-Step Guide"21:56 | Heading: Considerations for Building Toward an Exit in Ecommerce23:26 | "The Importance of Budgeting and Inventory Management for Building a Sellable Business"29:05 | Exploring Growth Strategies for Ecommerce Businesses with South Coal32:28 | Discussion on Ecommerce Business Investment Criteria33:43 | "Exploring the Benefits of Working with a Consultant Who Has Skin in the Game"34:55 | Heading: Exploring Southcool Co's Ecommerce Valuation Tool with Yannie of Southcool Co36:51 | "Interview with Yoni Mazor: Building Business Value and Evergreen Skills"Understanding Your Ideal BuyerTo build towards a successful exit, it's essential to understand who your ideal buyer is. This requires looking years out and considering the types of businesses that would be interested in acquiring your company. For example, if you're in the e-commerce space, you might be looking to sell to private equity or strategic acquirers.Assessing TAM & Competitor PositionInvestors always look at TAM (Total Addressable Market) with an eye towards growth opportunities. Consider the level of competition in your niche and whether there is an opportunity for you to take market share. Is there a private equity or strategic acquirer in the niche? If so, building towards a market-leading position in that niche could make your business more appealing to buyers.Why Start in the USA?Starting a business in the USA offers a significant advantage due to the large population of 350 million people, with 50% of e-commerce sales happening on Amazon. This provides a vast TAM to penetrate and build market share. While other markets like Australia may offer less competition, the smaller population makes it harder to achieve meaningful scale.Maximizing MultiplesTo increase your potential multiple for exit, it's essential to have a clear distinction between getting ready for exit and maximizing your multiples. This requires identifying areas of the business that are critical to the multiple, such as SOPs, training videos, and documentation. Automating and delegating to people who are better than you are at certain tasks is also crucial.Building Relationships with SuppliersBuilding strong relationships with suppliers is also essential to building a sellable business. Aggregators and other buyers are interested in businesses that are operationally sound and can continue to grow even without the founder's involvement. Having clear SOPs, training videos, and documentation helps ensure that acquirers can understand how the business works and can integrate it into their operations.Inventory Planning and BudgetingInventory planning and budgeting are also critical to building a sellable business.
Growing a Business to Sell on an e-commerce business can be a challenging task, especially in the current market. Yoni Kozminski, Founding Partner of South Col, shares insights on the current state of the market, the aggregator business model, and South Col’s approach to investing in e-commerce businesses.Time Stamp00:00 | "Welcome to the Ten K Collective Podcast: Accelerating Ecommerce Businesses to Exit with Yoni Kozminski"02:34 | Michael Krakaris: Exploring Ecommerce, Digital Marketing, and Process Improvement Management Consulting04:22 | Heading: South Coal: A Joint Venture to Invest in Ecommerce Businesses05:59 | Exploring the Business Model of an Aggregator: A Discussion with South Coal08:03 | The Benefits of Working with an Equity Investment Firm for Ecommerce Businesses14:13 | Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Aggregator Business Models: A Discussion with Michael15:08 | The Impact of Rapid Growth on Businesses: A Discussion20:50 | Heading: Navigating the Venture Capital Environment as an Entrepreneur22:40 | Heading: The Cost of Venture Capital Investment25:08 | Exploring Sustainable Business Opportunities for Entrepreneurs26:11 | Exploring Strategies for Accelerating Business Growth: A Discussion on Selling vs. Owning a Business31:12 | Discussion on Accelerating Growth and Exiting a Business32:35 | Understanding the Current State of Ecommerce Business Exits34:28 | "Strategizing for Intentional Business Growth: Advice for Amazon Sellers"Who is Yoni Kozminski?Yoni Kozminski is a founding partner of South Col, a growth fund focused on accelerating e-commerce businesses to exit. He has a background in digital marketing and has worked with well-known brands such as Sony, Mastercard, and Mercedes-Benz. Kozminski grew a brand to 5 million in 12 months and later founded services such as EScala, which provides consulting services to systemize, scale, and exit e-commerce businesses. He also founded Multiplymii, which provides executive search and HR functions.Growing a Business to Sell : South Col's Business ModelSouth Col invests in e-commerce businesses, focusing on growing them and maximizing their exit value. Unlike aggregators, they aim to keep the founder in the business and invest millions of dollars in it. South Col builds a two-year roadmap and works on removing the founder from the aspects of the business they hate, such as PPC, inventory, logistics, 3PL, and IP lawyers. The founder can then focus on new product development, building out the next ten products, and expanding the brand into new regions. South Col is committed to the outcome and sees upside when the founder does.Aggregator Business Model IssuesYoni Kozminski was approached by many aggregators and brokers who wanted to buy e-commerce businesses. However, he did not feel good about this because the brokers' goal is to buy the brand at the lowest price, which conflicts with the owner's aim of getting the highest price.Growing a Business to Sell : Lessons from the Aggregators' TalesIt is hard to scale any business at speed, and this is never wise. Spreadsheet jockeys saw the immense demand for aggregators and drove up multiples from 1.5x to 7-9x EBITDA. There was a lot of market confidence in early 2020, and the pandemic's duration impacted it significantly. Entrepreneurs' decisions are affected by the venture capital model, where they are there to force the outcome, but only 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 will succeed. South Col is a possible alternative for those considering taking on VC.Why Sell an E-commerce Business?The business model affects the decision to sell. In a service business, you can typically build healthy margins once you get to critical mass, yielding around 300K a year for you and being independent of you. On the other hand, e-commerce businesses require more cash requirements, making them more stressful to grow. Unless you have seriously high margins,
How do you know whether a new product is a good idea on Amazon? In this week’s Tip Of The Week video we discuss five decision making criteria you can use to evaluate a product on Amazon.
If you are running an e-commerce business, chances are you want to rank high on Google. But why is it so difficult to convert traffic into sales? And what can you do to increase your chances of success? One strategy that could help you is topical mapping. In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at what topical mapping is, how it can help you rank higher on Google, and how you can use it to convert more sales.Time Stamps0:00:00 | Unlock Your Ecommerce SEO Potential: How to Rank Your Website and Make Money with Ashley Pearce from Future State Media0:02:38 | Exploring SEO Strategies for Ecommerce Websites with Ashley Pearce"0:04:21 | Exploring Google Knowledge Graph: Maximizing Opportunities and Diversifying Platforms0:06:35 | Exploring Risk Mitigation and Concentration Risk Mitigation for Amazon: A Conversation on SEO Strategies for Increased Revenue"0:09:57 | Exploring Opportunities for Expanding Product Lines Through SEO0:13:15 | Exploring the Benefits of Niche Marketing for Business Growth0:15:06 | Exploring the Power of Authority Building in the Online World"0:16:05 | Exploring Opportunities to Convert Website Visitors into Customers0:19:49 | Exploring the Possibility of Selling Digital Products on a Blog0:22:00 | Exploring the Possibilities of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)0:25:01 | Optimizing Lead Magnets for Search Intent: Maximizing Conversion Rates"0:26:52 | Exploring Lead Capture Strategies for Ecommerce Sites"0:29:13 | Maximizing Your SEO Budget for Maximum Conversion Rates"0:31:09 | Heading: SEO Projects Showing Impressive ROI Results0:32:38 | Understanding the ROI of SEO: A Discussion on Building an Asset to Sell"0:35:21 | Exploring the Benefits of Long-Term Investment in Businesses for Exit Strategies0:37:00 | Exploring Long-Term Strategies for Building Authority and ROI in Ecommerce"0:38:34 | Exploring SEO Strategies for Ecommerce Operators: A Guide to DIY and Outsourcing Solutions"0:40:00 | Unlocking the Power of Organic Traffic: A Conversation with Ashley on SEO Strategies"0:41:33 | Interview with Ashley Pearce of Future State Media: Strategies for Staying Focused on Your North StarWhat is Topical Mapping?Topical mapping is a strategy that involves mapping out the topics that are most relevant to your business and your customers. By doing so, you can create content that is more targeted and relevant to your audience, which can help you rank higher on Google. Topical mapping takes a longer-term perspective, which means that you should focus on topics that are relevant to your business in the long run, rather than just trying to rank for one single keyword.From an SEO perspective, topical mapping is important because it helps validate that your content is topically relevant. When Google sees that your content is focused on a specific topic, it's more likely to rank it higher in search results. This can help drive more traffic to your site, which is essential for e-commerce businesses.Why Aren't We Converting More Sales from Traffic?One reason why businesses struggle to convert traffic into sales is that the first content to rank on Google tends not to be the most commercially driven pages. For example, if you sell dog products, ranking for "Why does my dog follow me everywhere?" may not result in many sales. Instead, you should focus on bottom-of-the-funnel pages with high buyer intent.When Do We Start Making Money from E-commerce SEO with Topical Mapping?To make money from e-commerce SEO, you need to compare yourself to your competitors. Look at how widely they've covered a topic, their ranking, and what their particular income looks like. You should also look at the traffic to commercial pages and make assumptions about conversion rates. Once you have this information,
When you increase your average order value (AOV) – you make more money per transaction – and that helps boost your revenue and profit. In this 2-part episode we’re going to discuss 7 ways to increase your AOV.What you’ll learn Russell Brunson’s most effective product AOV test ever. The Apps that make AOV increase simple. Active vs Passive Upsell strategies How your product catalog can influence AOV How to test your way to higher AOVsE-commerce and Business Books & Resources mentioned 80/20 curve Perry Marshall
As an e-commerce business owner, you work hard to make sales and grow your business. However, it can be frustrating when you see that there's not much money left at the end of the month, quarter, or year. You may not know where your money goes or understand your business financially. This is where a profit and loss statement (P&L) comes in handy.In this blog post, we'll discuss how to structure your P&L for e-commerce to gain clarity and profit. We'll cover why this matters, the frustrations you may be experiencing, what we want, signs you've got this wrong, who this is for, and phase A: how to set up your P&L.Why This MattersA P&L is a financial statement that shows the revenue, costs, and expenses of a business over a period. It's an essential tool for tracking your business's financial performance and making informed decisions. A well-structured P&L provides clarity on your business's profitability and helps you identify areas for improvement.Frustrations You May Be Experiencing with Your P & L for e-CommerceIf you're an e-commerce business owner, you may be experiencing frustrations such as working hard but not having much money left at the end of the month, quarter, or year. You may not know where your money goes or understand your business financially. This can lead to uncertainty and a lack of direction.What We WantWe want clarity on our business's financial performance, an overall business strategy, and to be guided by numbers. A well-structured P&L can help us achieve these goals.Signs You've Got This WrongIf you don't have a profit analytics system, you won't know what's working and what's not. If your numbers are inaccurate, you won't be able to trust your P&L. If you don't understand your P&L, you won't be able to make informed decisions. If you don't know what to do with the information you get, your P&L won't be useful.P & L for e-Commerce : Who This Is ForThis blog post is for resellers using RA, OA, or wholesale sourcing, own brand sellers (private label/custom products), and Shopify or DTC store owners. If you're an e-commerce business owner, you're the financial manager of your business, and this post is for you.Phase A: How to Set Up Your P<o set up your P&L, you need to be clear about the difference between tax accounting and management accounting. Tax accounting is for the IRS, and management accounting is for you. You need to have a bookkeeper or accountant who understands e-commerce and can set up your P&L correctly. Choose a bookkeeping system (e.g., Xero or Quickbooks) that is universally used and preferred by your accountant/bookkeeper. Use software to link your sales channels (e.g., Amazon) to your bookkeeping system (e.g., A2X or Linkmybooks). Set up your chart of accounts with your accountant, and have your bookkeeper get your accounts up to date historically. Then get your accounts up to date for the previous month by the 15th of the next month. Have them set up a P&L report that clearly shows direct vs. indirect costs (i.e., you get a clear gross margin).In conclusion, a well-structured P&L is essential for gaining clarity and profitability in your e-commerce business. By following the steps outlined in this post, you can set up your P&L correctly and make informed decisions for the future of your business.
Ecommerce SEO strategies, as an eCommerce business owner, you likely understand the importance of optimizing your website for search engines. After all, appearing at the top of Google's search results is the key to driving traffic to your website and boosting sales. However, many eCommerce businesses make the mistake of focusing solely on product pages and category pages and overlooking the value of a blog.In this post, we'll explore the real reason eCommerce business owners should be publishing articles on their blog, and how it can help maximize eCommerce SEO.Time Stamps0:00:00 | Unlocking the Benefits of SEO for Ecommerce Businesses: Why Publishing Articles on Your Blog is Key0:03:24 | Optimizing Ecommerce Websites for Organic Traffic: A Content-Led Approach0:05:54 | Exploring Topical Mapping: A Comprehensive Overview0:07:09 | Exploring Content Mapping Strategies for SEO Success0:08:41 | Exploring the Benefits of Topical Mapping for SEO0:10:09 | Exploring the Connection Between Topical Relevance and High Performance Ranking0:13:15 | Evaluating SEO Performance: Leading Edge Metrics and Competitor Analysis0:14:59 | Exploring the Benefits of Topical Mapping for SEO Programs0:18:19 | Exploring the Benefits of Topic Mapping and Buyer Journey Mapping for SEO0:18:55 | Exploring the Benefits of Building Authority for SEO Success0:21:50 | Understanding the Relationship Between SEO and Ecommerce: How to Maximize Traffic and Conversion Rates0:24:42 | Unlocking the Potential of SEO: Insights from Ashley Pierce0:26:36 | Understanding SEO for Ecommerce: Key Takeaways for Driving Traffic and Conversions0:28:12 | Understanding Ecommerce SEO: Takeaways from Ashley Pierce of Future State Media0:32:37 | Exploring Risk Mitigation Strategies for E-Commerce Platforms0:35:51 | Exploring the Benefits of SEO: Leveraging Topical Relevance to Increase Profitability0:38:19 | Exploring Opportunities for Establishing Topical Relevance in SEO0:41:25 | Exploring the Power of Authority Building in SEOEcommerce SEO Strategies : The Power of Topical MappingTo start, it's essential to understand the power of topical mapping. At its core, topical mapping is the process of identifying the key topics that are most relevant to your business and creating content around those topics. This approach can help build a level of topical authority in search engines, which can drive traffic to your website.Traditionally, building topical authority involved generating millions of backlinks. However, today's SEO techniques are more sophisticated, and topical mapping has become an essential tool in the eCommerce SEO toolkit.To get started with topical mapping, you'll need to map out your niche using tools like Google and SEM Rush. By analyzing what your competitors are already publishing, you can gain a better understanding of the topics that are most relevant to your business.Ecommerce SEO Strategies : Topical Mapping and the Buyer JourneyHowever, it's essential to note that topical mapping is not the same as mapping out the buyer journey and providing content. In most cases, there will be some overlap between these two approaches, but they won't be perfectly aligned.The aim of the game is to cover the topic more fully and to a higher quality than your competitors in the search market. Once you do this, you'll find ranking for commercial "buying intent" terms easier and more reliable.The Role of Commercial IntentOne of the most common mistakes eCommerce businesses make is creating content solely for informational search intent, which may have no commercial intent. While this approach can help you rank product pages and category pages for commercial intent topics, it doesn't necessarily translate into sales.Instead, it's essential to create content that aligns with commercial search intent. This type of content should be designed to drive high-profit sales from Google Organic traffic,
When you increase your average order value (AOV) – you make more money per transaction – and that helps boost your revenue and profit. In this 2-part episode we’re going to discuss 7 ways to increase your AOV.What you’ll learn Russell Brunson’s most effective product AOV test ever. The Apps that make AOV increase simple. Active vs Passive Upsell strategies How your product catalog can influence AOV How to test your way to higher AOVsE-commerce and Business Books & Resources mentioned 80/20 curve Perry Marshall
Returns are a part and parcel of the e-commerce business. As a store owner, it's essential to have a fair and transparent return policy in place to protect your brand. Having a streamlined and efficient product return process can also go a long way in reducing the number of returns and preserving customer satisfaction.In this article, we'll explore the reasons behind product returns, the importance of having a clear return policy, and steps you can take to reduce returns and protect your brand.Understanding the Reasons Behind ReturnsThe first step in reducing product returns is to understand why customers want to return their purchases. Some of the most common reasons for product returns include: The product is damaged or defective The product received is not what the customer ordered The product received is different from the product described on the website The customer changed their mind about the purchase The product did not fit as expectedBy analyzing customer feedback and tracking patterns and trends in returns, you can identify areas for improvement and make changes to your products, website, or return process.Implementing a Fair and Transparent Return PolicyHaving a clear and transparent return policy is critical to building trust with your customers and protecting your brand. A well-designed return policy should include the following key elements: A clear explanation of the conditions under which a product can be returned The time frame in which customers can return a product Information on how customers can initiate a return Details on the return process, including shipping instructions and any costs associated with returns Information on how customers will receive their refund or exchangeBy providing clear and concise information about your return policy, you can help reduce the number of returns and minimize any negative impact on your business.Streamlining the Return ProcessAn efficient and streamlined return process is essential to reducing the number of returns and preserving customer satisfaction. The return process should be simple and straightforward, with clear instructions on how customers can initiate a return and receive their refund or exchange.To streamline the return process, consider automating as much as possible. For example, you can use software to generate return labels, track returns, and calculate the cost of returns. This can help you save time and reduce manual effort.Enhancing Customer Experience During ReturnsThe customer experience during the return process is just as important as the customer experience during the purchase process. By providing clear and concise instructions for returns and offering multiple options for returns, such as in-store returns or prepaid shipping labels, you can enhance the customer experience and reduce the number of returns.Measuring the Impact of Returns on Your BusinessKeeping track of the number of returns and the cost of returns is essential to understanding the impact of returns on your business. By tracking this information, you can identify areas for improvement and make changes to your products, website, or return process.To reduce the impact of returns on your business, consider offering a satisfaction guarantee or a limited warranty. This can help build trust with your customers and reduce the number of returns.ConclusionReturns are an inevitable part of the e-commerce business, but by having a fair and transparent return policy, streamlining the return process, and enhancing the customer experience during returns, you can reduce the number of returns and protect your brand. Keeping track of the number of returns and the cost of returns is also essential to understanding the impact of returns on your business and making changes to improve the customer experience.In conclusion, handling product returns effectively is critical to protecting your e-commerce brand and pre...
As an Amazon seller, having access to Amazon Brand Analytics can greatly benefit your business. It provides valuable insights into your brand's performance, helping you make informed decisions to maximize your business's growth.Time Stamps[03:35] Understanding The Results[05:31] Why Should You Prioritize The Image[06:12] Conversation Rate Optimization[06:50] Getting Reviews[09:22] Managing Your Reviews[15:05] Search Query Performance Report[19:13] SummaryUnderstanding Your Analytics PerformanceOne of the main benefits of using Amazon Brand Analytics is having a comprehensive view of your brand's performance. This tool provides data on your brand's sales, impressions, conversion rate, and more. Having this information at your fingertips allows you to make informed decisions to drive growth.Monitoring Your CompetitionAnother important aspect is the ability to monitor your competition. By tracking your competitors' performance, you can identify areas where you can improve your own products and strategies to gain a competitive advantage.Improving Product Listings :In addition to providing insights into your brand's performance, Amazon Brand Analytics also offers valuable information on how to improve your product listings. This information can help you optimize your product listings to increase conversions, drive more traffic, and ultimately grow your sales.Making Data-Driven DecisionsYou can make informed, data-driven decisions that will help maximize your business's growth. This tool provides insights into your brand's performance and helps you make informed decisions about your product offerings, pricing, and marketing strategies.In conclusion, Amazon Brand Analytics is a valuable tool for any Amazon seller. By using this tool, you can make informed decisions that will help grow your business and stay ahead of the competition. So if you haven't already, be sure to take advantage of Amazon Brand Analytics and start maximizing your business today!Resources Reach Out to Mina Elias!
If you want to drive conversions on Amazon, then you’ll want to get really good at photography and image marketing. In this episode we dive into this topic and to help you increase your PROFITS as you work to increase your SALES.What you’ll learn The Person, Problem, Psychological Driver Framework. The 10 steps to create terrific visual impact Tips for working with a photographer The 4 types of images you need on every Amazon listing.Resources for product development https://karltayloreducation.com/karl-taylor-photography-new-website/
Are you looking for ways to increase your Amazon conversion rate and maximize your cash flow? It’s no secret that the success of any eCommerce business is dependent on boosting the Amazon conversion rate. Yet, it can feel like an uphill battle if you don’t know where to start—but guess what: You are NOT alone! Our expert guest, Mina Elias,has created this checklist full of tricks, tips and strategies designed specifically to help you take charge of your conversions, drive more sales, and make serious money with your Amazon business.By learning how to leverage advertising strategy within Amazon’s platform as well optimizing user experience (UX), you will have all the tools needed dump extra cash in your pocket right away. So stop wasting time—let's get started!Time Stamps[02:35] Why does Running Ads Matter?[04:39] Improving Your Click-Through Rate[06:43] The Importance of A Bestseller Badge[08:24] Price and Image Test : Doing A Coupon Test[10:15] Keeping In Mind The Price and The Main Image[14:00] Product Opinion[14:41] Updating Images On A Weekly Basis[15:54] How To Improve Conversion Rate?[17:56] Bullet Points and SEO[19:07] Standout[20:52] WrapupCTR Optimization to Increase amazon Conversion RateCTR optimization is crucial when it comes to advertising and sales on Amazon. CTR stands for click-through rate and is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. A higher CTR means more people are clicking on your listing and moving further down the funnel towards a conversion. To maximize CTR, focus on three main areas: the main image, price, and reviews. The Amazon Choice and Bestseller badges can also impact CTR, but the Bestseller badge can only be earned by spending a significant amount of money.Meanwhile, the Choice badge is only useful for your own brand name. Optimizing your pricing, either by yourself or using a service, can also impact CTR. Running coupon tests, either in the form of a dollar amount or percentage off, can drive more conversions. Lastly, tracking your spending and CTR through an excel sheet or software is important to monitor progress and make adjustments. Dropping your price may result in lower profit per unit, but can improve CTR and overall sales.Increase amazon Conversion Rate with Your Main ImageThe main image of your product plays a crucial role in attracting potential buyers to your listing. To optimize your main image, you can use polling platforms such as Pickfu or Productpinion to gather opinions on which image is more appealing. The results of these polls can help you make changes to the image to make it more eye-catching and increase the CTR. For example, you can incorporate certain elements in the main image to make it stand out, such as the size of the product or its intended use (such as pre and intra workout vs hydration). It's important to remember that the results of these experiments may not be 100% accurate, so it's best to keep testing and adjusting over time to see what works best for your product.Keep in mind that an increase in CTR can lead to a higher ad spend, so it's important to be controlled with your spending. A conversion rate of 2-3% is considered good, but a conversion rate of 4% or higher is considered phenomenal.Conversion OptimizationConversion optimization is a crucial aspect of e-commerce success. The CTR elements, such as the main image and pricing, also impact conversion rates.The rest of the images, questions, and videos play a significant role in converting shoppers into customers. Most sellers first click on the main image, price, and star rating, then look at the images. The images are crucial, and their position matters. Productpinion, a product testing tool, can be used to test the impact of different image positions on sales by asking "Which one would you buy and why?"Testing videos, price, and coupons can also help increase conversion rates. However,
If you want to drive conversions on Amazon, then you’ll want to get really good at photography and image marketing. In this episode we dive into this topic and to help you increase your PROFITS as you work to increase your SALES.What you’ll learn The Person, Problem, Psychological Driver Framework. The 10 steps to create terrific visual impact Tips for working with a photographer The 4 types of images you need on every Amazon listing.Resources for product development https://karltayloreducation.com/karl-taylor-photography-new-website/
Vance Lee is the founder of Playground Theory, a company specializing in community building for product validation. In this episode, Vance will discuss the importance of building a strong community for product validation and how to effectively engage with potential customers to gather valuable feedback and insights. He will share his expertise and experiences in creating successful communities and how it can help companies validate and improve their products.Time Stamps00:00 | Introduction02:13 | Introduction to Product Validation04:59 | Scaling Product Validation07:41 | How do we even find people to even ask their opinion of11:58 | How Do We Start That Conversation In a Way That's Helpful?14:25 | The Five Question Survey18:27 | Mistakes To Avoid22:33 | More About Playground TheoryIntroduction to Product Validation for Amazon Sellers Vance Lee of Playground Theory is an expert in pre-orders and crowdfunding Discusses the importance of product validation for Amazon sellers The process of validating a product involves figuring out if people want it and what they want/don't want about it Validation helps to ensure the product is successful and profitable before investing time and moneyThe Importance of Product Validation Product validation is an important step before investing resources in a new/existing product Without validation, companies may spend time and money on a product nobody wants The traditional Amazon private label process involves looking at reviews, but it's important to look at other options for validation Validation ensures the product will be successful and profitableUnderstanding Product Validation The speaker discusses the concept of product validation and how it's crucial before scaling a product Defines validation as getting feedback from customers about the product and understanding their needs Mentioned Andreessen's idea of product-market fit as another important aspect of validation By getting customer feedback, businesses can make sure the product has the desired features and is viableThe Process of Product Validation Validation is the process of getting feedback from potential customers to make sure the product meets their needs Involves talking to people and getting their opinions, as well as market research Helps to create a defensible product that sets the business apart from competitors Also involves talking to suppliers to see if the product is feasible and the necessary resources are available Validation helps to create a unique product that fulfills its primary and secondary functions and desired price point.Resources Ready to take your Amazon business to the next level?Visit amazingfba.com/playground today and unlock the power of community-driven product validation.Get the expert insights and resources you need to validate your products and ensure their success and profitability. Don't wait, click now and join the revolution!
Today we focus on the latest business opportunity Chris Green is teaching: buying and selling web Domains. Chris has being having fun and making profits from this since the late ‘90s. Internet Domains aren’t new. Domains have been bought and sold since the early ‘90s. They have existed as an asset class for 30 years now.But NFTs and other recent digital assets have recently brought domain buying and selling back into awareness. It’s re-emerged as a hot topic.There are multi-million dollar domains out there; but new domains can be bought for as little as $9.Finding underpriced domains is a fun game Chris has honed for years. It’s low risk and high reward. But it does require patience – and experience.What you’ll learn Why domain buying and selling is low-risk, potentially very high reward Why it’s come back into fashion What Jason plans to do with his 100+ domains! How Chris stumbled on the need for training in this area The similarities between Retail Arb and Domaining – and the differences Why buying strangely worded domains is always a no-no When you should consider adding other assets to a domain (such as a website on the domain! Or social media accounts) 5 reasons why Domains are great assetsResources Mentioned Go to www.thedomainchallenge.com5 days of live training with Chris Green. Day 1 is for beginners/basic conceptsAfter that it ramps up!Chris will go live at 1pm and 9 pm Eastern daily (same content, just allowing for different timezones etc. )
Amazon sellers often experience frustration with not knowing where their money is going and not having a way to analyze and identify the best products to sell. Using ecommerce profit analytics programs, such as Sellerboard or Eva, can help sellers identify profitable products, track their sales and profits, and manage their inventory and advertising. Reviewing the data regularly and double down on out of stock, high profit items is crucial to maximize profits. It's also important to calculate "AROI" (Annualized Return on investment) which is more accurate than just ROI. Additionally, it's recommended to reallocate capital from mediocre/loss making products to profitable items and explore options such as creating variations or bundles of successful products.Why This mattersAmazon Seller Frustrations Working hard but not much money left at end of month/quarter/year Don’t know where your money goes Don’t know if you should reorder products, what to buy. How muchWhat we Want from our Products [Revenue?] Return on Investment (more on this shortly) Cashflow Profit replenishable/repeatableMissing out on what’s working Having no profit analytics system so you don’t know what’s working Not having a way to analyse and “surface” the best products Shiny object/creativity syndrome Not acting on the insights you get Who this is for -Resellers using RA, OA, or wholesale sourcing - own brand sellers (Private Label/custom products) - Shopify or DTC store ownersUsing Amazon Profit Analytics is like panning for gold - or Shopify analytics or apps - eCommerce and Amazon is the new Gold Rush. Don’t throw the gold out with the gravel!What Amazon profit seekers can learn from gold panning: Once you’ve got the gold (keep the profits!).... Keep what you have! Go back to the same source!How to get more out of what’s workingPhase A. Finding profitable products [as before] Get an ecommerce profit analytics programme or use what worksAmazon-specific Sellerboard is common. Eva is probably better value. - EVA Accurate Sales & Profit Analytics - like Sellerboard Custom Reporting At Product, Store & Daily Sales Level Advertising Analytics & Rule-Based Settings Dynamic Pricing & Promotion Management Inventory Management & Replenishment ForecastingVery affordable. Shopify - in left hand menuAnalytics>ReportsCategories: FinancesGross profit report Input accurate COGS and other costsHaving a system with no data is a waste of timeHaving a system with inaccurate data is positively dangerous You believe it - lose money You don’t believe it - so you don’t follow the insights - also lose money! Review the data - regularly! Annually is too late Quarterly minimum Monthly is best Note frequently Out of stocks Find highest margin products Look at stock turn Don’t worry about ROI - calculate “AROI” (Annualized Return on investment] (listen to/watch future episode)Phase B- implementation DOuble down on OOS - Make sure you stay in stock/deepen stock on fast-selling and profitable items (reallocate capital for slow-selling or loss making items) Double down on high profit items - For the most profitable items, reallocate capital from mediocre/loss making products create/find variations on profitable items (future episode) Create Bundles (listen/watch for future episode) Are You Sitting on a Gold Mine? What to do next to Crush Your Amazon [or Shopify/DTC] Profit MarginGet a free Amazon profit auditGet a free audit from me, Michael Veazey, personally. As long as you have at least $10K/€10K/£10K in monthly revenue. You can be a reseller or Private label/custom product brand owner Just click the link below, scroll down,
Vance Lee of Playground Theory talks about how to use pre-order launches to grow Amazon businesses. Vance got into the Amazon FBA business in 2015 and launched his first product. He explains how pre-order launches enable Amazon sellers to get great cash flow and scale faster. Vance talks about how pre-order launches are a great way to get money up front and avoid wasting valuable resources. He also shares his free Quick Assessment, which helps identify the biggest Amazon profit killer and provides solutions for it.Time Stamps0:00:00 | Welcome to the Ten K Collective Podcast: Exploring Pre-Order Launches to Increase Cash Flow and Scale Faster with Vance Lee of Playground Theory0:02:31 | Exploring Preorders and Crowdfunding: How I Launched My First Product and Achieved 950,000 in Sales0:03:48 | The Benefits of Crowdfunding and Building an Audience for Product Launches0:06:13 | Conversation on Crowdfunding for Experienced Sellers and Beginners0:11:03 | "Avoiding Common Mistakes When Launching a Crowdfunding Campaign"0:12:26 | "Key Learnings from a Successful Preorder Campaign"0:16:57 | "Unlocking the Power of Crowdfunding for Amazon Sellers: An Interview with Savannah Sanchez of Playground"0:18:39 | Interview with Vance Morris of AmazingFBA.com on Pre-Launch Model Strategies for Amazon SellersVance Lee has an accelerated program for anyone interested in launching your next product idea using preorders and crowdfunding. From if you're in the idea conception phase all the way to launching and how to leverage that to scale to ecommerce, Vance and his team will assist you throughout the process.Regardless if you're doing this for preorder crowdfunding launch, or if you're finding a way to do this in your way for your Amazon store, at the end of the day, the key to scaling businesses and nowadays with rising ad costs and all the challenges that we have with launching products, is to build your own community.When it comes to being able to create a campaign that's effective and successful on a launch platform like Kickstarter, it's really important that we do a good job in understanding our customers because it's not at that point only about keyword research data.Vance thinks there's a lot of things that we can learn when it comes to executing a successful preorder campaign. We're going to have to do a lot of things that allow for that to work.And I would argue nowadays with Amazon, having really strong video content for ads and other types of media will really help you with being successful on Amazon. And the good thing about this is that you can create these assets and they're usable immediately for when you move over to Amazon or shopify or wherever else you're going to be selling.Resources Find Out More About Playground Theory
Multi-channel marketing is all the rage. Most smart e-commerce entrepreneurs know that having one e commerce sales channel is an unacceptable concentration risk for their business. Launching a new ecommerce sales channel seems like the obvious answer. And, just to be clear, we think it is!However, launching a new sales channel or launching a product on a new e commerce marketplace is not without its challenges. Seeing the logic in starting a new sales channel is one thing. But making it work in practice is another. The main thing is to not fall into some classic traps.In today’s show, we discuss 5 classic traps (and one “bonus trap”) that e-commerce operators fall into when starting up a new e commerce sales channel. And of course, we discuss how to avoid those mistakes.What you’ll learn Why all sales channels are not born equal How amazon.com (US) is different from say amazon.it Some critical differences between Etsy and Shopify How the Math of profitability varies between platforms Some client examples of wrong strategies – and what works best instead How Jason and Cinnamon got 50X the price the competition got – from off-platform marketing! The critical error marketers make when planning the time & effort needed to launch a new sales channel When outsourcing to an expert helps – and when it’s a trap (or worse!) Why smart eCommerce entrepreneurs end up discounting their own knowledge The 3 foundations you need to put in place before you launch a new e commerce sales channel How to maximise the chances of success with a new e commerce channel The thing you need to do first before you even start something newResources Real Real Poshmark Fbmarketplace Offerup Teachable/Kajabi
This episode discusses strategies for increasing profits for e-commerce businesses, including monitoring conditions and cleaning up the profit and loss statement.It also emphasizes the importance of understanding cash flow and working with an accountant who understands ecommerce and the business.The article provides twelve ways to maximize profit and stay safe, using a metaphor of instrument flying to understand the system, and suggests involving oneself in the process of setting up an accounting system and chart of accounts.Get a Free Amazon Profit AuditGet a free audit from me, Michael Veazey, personally. As long as you have at least $10K/€10K/£10K in monthly revenue. You can be a reseller or Private label/custom product brand owner Just click the link below, scroll down, click on “Amazon audit” and book in a time!Timestamps[0:00:00 : Maximizing Profits in Ecommerce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Cleaning Up Your Profit and Loss[0:02:35] 2 Ways to Boost Your Profits by Cleaning Up Your Amazon Profit and Loss[0:05:54] Understanding Cash Flow and Instrument Flying for Ecommerce Businesses[0:07:04] Setting Up an Ecommerce Accounting System: Tips from an Accountant[0:08:41] Tips for Cleaning Up Your Profit and Loss Statement for an Ecommerce Business[0:12:14] Tips for Accurate Accounting for Amazon Sellers[0:14:43] Tips for Effective Financial Management in E-Commerce Businesses[0:16:09] Tips for Monitoring Your Ecommerce Business Finances[0:18:18] Tips for Optimizing Operating Profit in E-Commerce Businesses[0:20:04] Audit Your Profit and Loss: Get a Free Audit from My Amazonaudit.comThe Show Outline Why This mattersAmazon Seller Frustrations Working hard but not much money left at end of month/quarter/year Don’t know where your money goes Don’t know if you should reorder products, what to buy. How muchWhat we Want from our Profit System Clarity and guidance Financially informed decisions Overview of business Know what to do more and to stop Know what to costs to cut Profit and Loss Mistakes Having no accounting system Not integrating Amazon with the system Not updating the system with accurate data Not acting on the insights you get Who this is for Resellers using RA, OA, or wholesale sourcing Own brand sellers (Private Label/custom products)Using Amazon Profit and Loss is like a dashboard on a small plane “Instrument flying” is what pro pilots do to be able to fly in all weather conditionsWith “instrument flying” you are using accurate data to build a mental map of conditions. Everything you do has two aims: To get to the destination To stay safe while doing soYou need to monitor things like Altitude above the ground Attitude/orientation Air speed Weather conditions Other aircraft What Amazon profit seekers can learn from instrument flying Altitude - how far from zero profit are you? Attitude/orientation Are you at an aggressive approach angle relative to direction of travel Environmental conditions - like shrinking markets, recessions Other aircraft - competitors - where they are, speed, how close How to Clean up your Amazon Profit and Loss Choose an accountant that understands ecommerce/ your business Use an accountant to set up your accounting systems Use the system your accountant and book keepers are comfortable with Xero is common. QuickBooks is fine 3 . Identify the most important numbers to clean up for in your p and l - then work backwards from there The most important numbers in your p and l for management accounting are gross profit Operating profit Gross profit is your net revenue minus all your direct costs It shows how profitable your product sales are. It’s most helpful at the product by product level to help you decide what pro...
Welcome to our discussion on SMS Marketing for DTC eCommerce Stores. SMS Marketing has become a popular and effective way for businesses to reach and engage with their customers. As the eCommerce industry continues to grow, DTC eCommerce stores are looking for new ways to connect with their customers and drive sales. In this discussion, we will explore how SMS marketing can help DTC eCommerce stores increase engagement and sales, as well as provide tips and best practices for using SMS marketing in eCommerce.Budai Media focuses on customer retention for ecommerce companies, believing it to be key to success. The company was founded by a geology student who discovered the potential of sales email copywriting while working a job he hated. Budai Media has grown to a 30-person team with 150+ clients, generating over $50,000,000 in extra revenue. The company is now 100% remote, and dedicated to being the best ecommerce retention marketing agency.Time Stamps[02:06:32] SMS Marketing[03:24:23] ROI on SMS Marketing[05:00:58] SMS Marketing an Annoying Method?[07:01:43] Things To Look Out For When Starting SMS Marketing[10:58:87] The Cost of SMS Marketing, Is is Worth The Investment?[12:06:47] Persuading People to Join SMS Marketing[14:37:25] Building SMS Marketing for an Amazon Focused Seller[16:14:62] What to Say to Your Customers Using SMS Marketing?[19:03:79] Structuring Things To Make It More Relevant For Your Customers[20:23:02] Balancing the Relationship Between SMS and Campaign[24:56:86] About Dubai Media[27:44:71] 50 Point Klaviyo Email ChecklistWhy Does My eCommerce Stores Need SMS marketing?SMS marketing, also known as text message marketing, is a highly effective way for businesses to reach and engage with their customers. One of the key benefits of SMS marketing is its high open rate, with an estimated 90-95% of text messages being opened by recipients. Additionally, most text messages are opened within just five minutes of being received, making SMS an excellent way to quickly deliver time-sensitive information.SMS marketing also has a high click-through rate, with an estimated 20-30% of recipients clicking through to a business's website. This makes it an effective way to drive website traffic and increase conversions.When it comes to return on investment (ROI), SMS marketing can be incredibly profitable for businesses. While the average ROI for SMS marketing can vary depending on a variety of factors, some businesses have reported returns of 100X or even 150X. Many business owners report that SMS marketing is their highest ROI channel. This is not just restricted to big brands, but also on 6-8 figure small businesses as well.In general, it's quite common to achieve at least 50X ROI, which makes SMS marketing a highly cost-effective marketing channel.Overall, SMS marketing is a powerful tool that can help businesses reach and engage with their customers, drive website traffic and conversions, and achieve a high return on investment.Provide Incentives to Your Customer! Discount Free T-shirt (AOV high) Free product samples Start out with automations first Abandoned cart flow New customer flow Scalability Limitations of SMSSome companies could use SMS more middle of funnel but it will be hard to get ROI Gary Veynerchuck sends motivational quotes etc to his SMS list It’s hard to measure ROI, it’s more about branding. He promoted it heavily on IG and SM Resources : Get More at amazingfba.com/klaviyo Free 30-minute DTC business audit (usually charged $200 but free) | Get Started Here!
What are your relationship objectives?The first step to figuring out whether or not joining a high-priced eCommerce mastermind is right for you is to figure out your relationship objectives.First, it’s important to understand that mastermind relationships are a two-way street. You can’t just expect people in the group to take care of everything and give you all the support you need; they expect the same in return. If your goal is just to have other people help with marketing, strategy and other tasks related to running an online business—then this may not be right for you (at least at first).But if your objective is more about finding true peers who have similar goals and challenges as yourself—you might find it worthwhile after all!A lot of work goes into building good relationships with other entrepreneurs who are going through similar things as yourself—but it’s worth every minute spent on getting there!Join a mastermind and surround yourself with like-minded people.One of the main benefits of joining a mastermind group is that you’ll be able to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who support each other. These are people who are committed to your success, and they will help you achieve your goals by providing feedback, ideas, solutions, and more.Membership in an online community can also give you access to resources that might not be available elsewhere. For example: A forum where people can answer questions about how they’ve handled specific problems or situations related to ecommerce business growth tactics A rolodex of experts like freight specialists, accountants and CPAs who understand ecommerce, Intellectual property lawyers etc. A forum to meet and have hot-seat sessions (and really drill down on problems in your personal business)Do you have time to commit fully?If you’re not going to be present and commit fully, then it may not be worth your time.A mastermind is a group of like-minded people who meet regularly to support each other in achieving their goals. Most of the members are running online businesses and rely on their mastermind for support as they grow their revenue.If you have a full-time job in addition to your business, heavy family commitments or other business commitments that take up most of your time, you might find it hard to commit fully to this kind of group. That can be especially if you don’t live near the others and they have a strong in-person component. Or if you can’t meet frequently enough for online group sessions. You may also struggle with prioritizing your family and friends over an ecommerce mastermind group (and vice versa).If you’re in the right situation and can commit fully to an online ecommerce mastermind group, then this can be a great tool for growing your business. And if it’s not, then there are other ways to get support and advice.Are the other members in my mastermind the right ones? Do they have enough experience to help me?One of the most important things to consider when joining an ecommerce mastermind is whether or not the other people in your group are a good fit for you. You need to find a group that will grow your business and that isn’t too large or small for you.The right size for a group can vary depending on what kind of help you want, but it usually falls between 5-15 members. If there are too many people in the room, it may feel over crowded and difficult to get your questions answered during Q&A sessions at meetings (or if there aren’t enough people in attendance).The right mix of mentors and coaches is also important because they will each play different roles within the group, so finding someone who is good at teaching online courses versus mentoring one-on-one can help bridge any gaps in skill sets among members.A mastermind group can help you solve your problems but only if it’s the right one for you.There are many benefits of joining a mastermind group.
In today's highly competitive e-commerce landscape, retaining customers is crucial for any business looking to boost its profit. With the rise of online shopping, consumers have more options than ever before, making it essential for e-commerce companies to keep their customers engaged and coming back for more. So, how can you retain your e-commerce customers and increase profit at the same time? In this blog post, we will explore5 Ways to Keep Your e-Commerce Customers Longer and Boost Profit that can help you achieve both goals, and give you the tools you need to create a loyal customer base that will drive the growth of your business. From improving your customer service to implementing personalized marketing campaigns, these tactics will help you stand out in the crowded e-commerce market and achieve long-term success.Budai Media focuses on customer retention for ecommerce companies, believing it to be key to success. The company was founded by a geology student who discovered the potential of sales email copywriting while working a job he hated. Budai Media has grown to a 30-person team with 150+ clients, generating over $50,000,000 in extra revenue. The company is now 100% remote, and dedicated to being the best ecommerce retention marketing agency.Time Stamps[02:28:42] Introduction : Why Daniel Started His Agency[04:04:46] What is Retention Marketing?[06:25:49] The Basic Principles On Retaining Customers[06:39:65] 1st Principle : Pesonalized Experience[08:09:30] 2nd Principle : Customer Service[09:55:70] 3rd Principle : Offer Incentives[11:46:94] 4th Principle : Proper Use of Email Marketing[14:57:73] 5th Principle : Loyalty Program[17:08:46] How To Apply These Principles for Amazon Business?[20:07:07] Recap of the Principles and Services OfferedeCommerce and Retention MarketingRetention marketing is the practice of focusing on increasing the lifetime value of customers and retention rate of a business. It's a strategy that is becoming increasingly important for e-commerce business owners, as they look for ways to grow their businesses and attract new customers. But retention marketing is not just important, it is vital. When a company can retain more of its customers, it can see an increase of profits by 20-80% (2X profits) by just a 5-10% increase in customer retention annually. And not just that, it costs 7 times less to get a second sale from a customer than it does to acquire a new one.The 5 Principles of Marketing Offer a Personalised Experience Excellent Customer Service Offer Incentives or Reasons to Buy From You Again Use Email Marketing and Using It Properly Loyalty ProgrammeWhat Aspects of This Can You Use to Your Customers in the Amazon Focused Business? Personalization - packaging QR codes on packaging to somewhere else Give them a gift with QR code One of members left team and did a video Customer service - still applies Email marketing more relevant from 2023 using Amazon own email tool “Delivering happiness” - Zapos - sold to amazon Resources : Get More at amazingfba.com/klaviyo Free 30-minute DTC business audit (usually charged $200 but free) | Get Started Here!
It’s never been easier to buy or sell an e-commerce company. In this episode we’re going to dive into the topic of how – and why – to acquire e-commerce businesses.What you’ll learn 2 Strategic questions to ask yourself before buying an e-commerce company. 4 Ways a new e-commerce company can add value to your current business. Building a ‘house of brands’. Keeping brands versus rebranding e-commerce assets you purchase. Vertical integration concepts. Acquire To Hire Strategies in e-commerce. Valuing businesses that don’t make any profit. Deal making to acquire an e-commerce company. How to value an e-commerce company. Creating profit and value in a new e-commerce company you buy. 4 Ways to finance the purchase of an e-commerce company. How to evaluate the down-side risk of acquiring an e-commerce companyResources for product development Buy Then Build (Book) by Walker Deibel of Quiet Life Brokerage https://empireflippers.com https://flippa.com https://microacquire.com https://exchangemarketplace.com https://feinternational.com
When it comes to running an e-commerce business, it's easy to get overwhelmed with all the tasks that need to be done. One solution to help manage the workload is to hire virtual assistants (VA). A VA is a professional who provides support services remotely, typically online. They can take care of a variety of tasks, including customer service, managing social media accounts, data entry, and more.Time Stamps[03:00:12] Creating Job Descriptions[07:36:79] Onboarding Issues : Mistakes When Recruiting[13:31:56] VAs Leaving Under Distress[19:43:80] The Superman Syndrome[21:39:58] The VAA PhilippinesHowever, managing remote teams and Virtual Assistants can present its own set of challenges. Here are some mistakes to avoid when hiring and working with a VA: Not having clear job descriptions: Before hiring Virtual Assistants, it's important to have a clear understanding of what tasks and responsibilities you want them to handle. This includes creating documentation like job descriptions to ensure that both parties are on the same page. Not looking for specific skills and experience: If you're hiring a VA for a specific task, such as managing your PPC campaigns, it's essential to look for someone with relevant experience and skills. For example, a PPC VA should have experience with analyzing data and optimizing campaigns. Not providing upfront tasks and training: It's important to provide your VA with a clear understanding of what they will be trained on and the hours of work expected. A clear contract, including an NDA, should also be in place to protect both parties. Not properly verifying the VA's identity and location: It's important to ensure that the VA you are working with is who they say they are, and to verify their location. This can be done by getting their identification and other personal information. Letting VAs feel isolated: Even though everything is done online, it's still important to invest in creating a sense of community with your VA. This can include holding actual meetings, celebrating birthdays, and participating in events in their location (if applicable). Feeling the need to create a book of SOPs: It can be tempting to want to create a book of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your VA to follow, but this can be a mistake. Instead, show your VA the responsibilities and tasks they will be handling, and provide training and support. You can even record the training sessions for them to refer back to. This will allow them to create their own SOPs as they become more familiar with the work. Not having a schedule of work: It's important to create a schedule for your VA to follow, so they can work independently without constant supervision. This can include tasks like checking listings for issues, managing PPC campaigns, and checking inventory. Not having reports: Set up a system for your VA to report to you on a daily or weekly basis. This can include what tasks they completed, any achievements or problems they encountered, and the hours they worked. Tools like Asana, Trello, and email can be used for this purpose. Not having a communication structure or regular meetings: It's important to have regular communication and meetings with your VA to ensure that everything is running smoothly and to address any issues that may arise. Suffering from the "Superman Syndrome": It's common for e-commerce business owners to try to do everything themselves when they first start out. However, as the business grows, it's important to delegate tasks to VAs and other team members to ensure that everything is being taken care of. Neglecting tasks like shipments, supplier management, and customer service can lead to problems down the line.Resources Schedule a call with Gilad at VAAphilippines.com To learn more about getting a VA, reach out to VAA Philippines at the email service@VAAphilippines.com
There are so many advertising platforms out there for ecommerce sellers these days. But not all platforms are created equal. Our intrepid quartet of ecommerce operators and thought leaders compare their favourite platforms and also the ones they love to hate! We cover Amazon ads, Google advertising (both Google text ads and Google shopping ads), Tiktok, Pinterest ads, Wallmart and Etsy advertising platforms.We also touch on some basic practices around ads: including making sure you don’t lose money on the deal! And how to link ad platforms into an ecosystem for outsized results.What you’ll learn Why goal clarity is critical before you start advertising Jason’s Amazon ads use…but it’s not what you think! Why Json loves to hate Facebook ads The under-used aspect of Google ads that can really increase your ROAS The importance of some critical numbers at the product level How understanding consumer behavior helps you engineer better performing ads Why and when you need to turn off your ads – even if they’re working!Resources Pin and Grow by Craig Lewis (Pinterest ecommerce agency – mention Amazing FBA or Michael Veazey for discounts and better service)
Amazon SEO – or “Amazon keyword ranking” – is rightly more than important – it’s almost an obsession of any focussed ecommerce operator who sells on Amazon.Getting your product listing to rank on Amazon for powerful keywords is indeed incredibly important.Having talked in the last live (or last 2 podcast episodes) about the strategic drivers, today we discuss some practical action steps to get your products ranked for valuable keywords on Amazon?What you’ll learn How boost traffic to your Amazon listing without advertising How to conduct keyword research How to refine your keyword lists Best practices in keyword research How A+ content impacts search engine optimization on Amazon Is adjusting the main image a good hack for SEO / ranking?Resources for Amazon SEO Viral Launch Helium 10 Jungle Scout Google SEO Training: clickminded.com by Tommy Griffith, former Head of SEO, PayPal & AirBnB amazingfba Steve Pope of My Amazon Guy
Welcome to our discussion on influencer marketing mistakes that Amazon sellers often make! If you're an Amazon seller looking to leverage the power of influencers to promote your products, it's essential to avoid common pitfalls that can hinder your success. In this episode, we'll take a look at some of the most common mistakes that Amazon sellers make when it comes to influencer marketing, and provide tips for how to avoid them. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just getting started, these insights will help you get the most out of your influencer marketing efforts and drive more sales for your business.BackgroundTomer Hen is a business professional based in Los Angeles, California. He has a wealth of experience working with big companies, including Amazon, to help them gain users. In addition to his work with these larger companies, Tomer has also founded his own "biohacking" supplements brand.As he looks to build relationships with influencers, Tomer is launching his brand with a modest budget, relying on relationships and micro influencer strategies to help get the word out about his products. While he has done many interviews in the past, this is the first time he has spoken about his influencer marketing strategy.Before delving into the world of ecommerce, Tomer had a team that he worked with to build sales funnels and handle other important tasks like copyrighting. His company, Mobco Media, has been around for ten years, and he works with a variety of brands, with about 70% of his business focused on Amazon. Despite this focus on Amazon, Tomer is also interested in building relationships with direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. Overall, he leans towards a DTC model, believing that most brands do influencer marketing wrong.Time Stamps01:56:76 | An Introduction About Mobco Media02:54:88 | How to Launch A New Brand?05:50:68 | The Definition of Influencer Marketing08:35:16 | How Are You Going To Find Or Choose The Influencers?10:14:58 | What Drives Influencers?13:35:56 | How Do We Go About This In Practice?22:19:04 | Is Using Influencer Shout-Outs Work?25:47:07 | How Do We Find Possible Influencers?29:53:23 | What Servicers Do You Offer?How To Launch a New Brand on Amazon with Influencer PartnershipsWelcome to our discussion on how to launch a new brand on Amazon with influencer partnerships. Our guest today is TOMER HEN of Mobco media, a company that helps brands grow their profits through influencer partnerships.Recently, Tomer had a conversation with a founder who is working on launching a new supplement brand. This brand is entering a very competitive space, but with the right strategy, it can still succeed. One key way to stand out is by building credibility and social proof outside of Amazon, and then using that to your advantage on the platform. For example, if an influencer endorses your product and directs their followers to your Amazon listing, it can be more effective than having a high number of reviews on your own.Tomer's company, Mobco media, has been around for 10 years and has worked with big brands like L'Oreal and Amazon. In the past two years, they have focused on helping supplement and food founders grow their businesses. If you're launching a new brand on Amazon, Tomer and his team at Mobco media can help you leverage influencer partnerships to give your brand the best possible chance of success.What Drives Influencers? Is It Just Relationship-Driven or Is it Real Business? Influencers, also known as content creators or social media influencers, are individuals who have a significant online presence and the ability to influence their followers' purchasing decisions. Many influencers are able to monetize their platforms through sponsored content, where they promote products or services to their audience in exchange for compensation.But what drives influencers to create content and collaborate with brands?
Okay, so you’re an Amazon 3rd Party Seller and you’ve decided that using Amazon ads (formerly AMS) could boost your sales and your business. Now how to start?You could plunge into the 100s of technical podcasts, blog posts and youtube videos. But if you’re new to the whole ad platform, that’s going to be overwhelming. Instead, let us walk you through the basics and give some simple but battle-tested guiding principles for practical action to boost your sales.You’ll learn How long tail keywords can win you big markets…over time Why advertising matters – and what it CAN’T do for you… The 3 main ways that Amazon ads help your product rank organically Why this “second order” effect is your PRIMARY goal with Amazon ads The “red herring” metric to AVOID using – and what to use instead The most cost effective way to use Amazon Sponsored Brands The power of video ads and how they fit into the Amazon ad world Evaluating your personal style and how this impacts your ad strategy Jason’s “Magic Trick” to get cheap exposure for your brandResources on Amazon Advertising https://advertising.amazon.com/ – the login to amazon advertising (& Amazon’s explanations) Google Ad Quality Score Definition Helium10 Amazon Research Tool Suite Viral Launch Amazon Research Suite Merchantwords Google (and possibly Amazon) keyword suggestion & search volume tool Keyword Inspector (Reverse ASIN tool -meaning that you put in the ASIN -Amazon ID number – of a product into the tool and it gives a list of keywords for which the product is ranking)Interviews with Amazon Ads experts on 10K Collective podcast: Amazon ad management with Brian Johnson of Canopy Management Amazon Advertising and profits with Mike Zagare of PPC Entourage Amazon Sponsored Brand ads with Ritu Java of PPC Ninja
Why You Should Start an AgencyBlog Introduction: Starting an agency can be a great way to get your foot in the door of the e-commerce world. An agency offers economies of scale, which means you can start with just one client and quickly grow to two or three. It’s an easy business to start up since the client pays for it, and if you manage it correctly, you can easily scale your agency from five employees to fifty. Jeff ran his own agency for nearly 20 years and knows first hand the rewards and pitfalls of running a successful business. Here’s what he had to say about why even run an agency in this day and age.Time Stamps[02:40:55] Why Even Run An Agency?[03:42:30] What Do You Call An Agency?[06:19:28] What Are The Downsides of Agencies?[07:57:49] Employees Don’t Get Better Then More You Hire[09:38:92] Using Data For An Agency[12:32:79] How Would You Manage The Client Asking For Goals That Don't Serve Them?[16:01:86] Why Are So Many Amazon Sellers Not Happy with Agencies?[20:36:51] How Do We Measure Management Effectiveness?[25:00:72] How Do We Deal with the Problem of Hiring One Person and Getting Another[28:16:48] How Do We Use Data To Run A Better Agency?What is an Agency?First off, it’s important to know exactly what an agency is. A freelancer is usually just one person working on their own projects, but an agency typically has a hierarchical structure with multiple people working within it. Jeff’s own agency started out with five employees, and eventually grew to over fifty. He left the day-to-day management of his agency to others so he could focus on larger tasks like strategy, branding, and marketing initiatives that would ultimately benefit all of his clients.Downside of Digital Marketing AgencyWhile there are many benefits to running an e-commerce business as an agency, there are also some potential downsides that should be taken into consideration before taking the leap. For example, running an e-commerce company as an agency is like running any other inventory-heavy business—like FBA—in that if you land a new client on the agency side then you have to project how much work will need to be done in order for them to achieve their goals. Additionally, while people don’t necessarily get worse when you hire more of them (as opposed to machines or software), they are definitely harder to scale than other aspects of your business—and agencies don’t always sell what they do; instead they sell results!How Would You Manage Client Requests?Another problem that arises when dealing with clients is how do you manage requests for goals that don’t serve them? According to Jeff, the best thing to do here is never call out your client directly; instead approach it from a different angle by saying something like “here’s how I look at it...” This allows you take control of the conversation without alienating your client or making them feel bad about their decision making process.How to Manage Clients and Keep Them Happy : Digital Marketing AgencyBlog Introduction: Amazon sellers often find themselves not happy with the e-commerce agencies they hire. They may feel that their goals are not being met, or that they aren’t feeling heard. That’s why it’s so important for agency owners to set expectations from the beginning and maintain a strong line of communication with their clients. In this blog post, we will discuss how to manage your clients and keep them happy, as well as how to measure management effectiveness.Structuring Account ManagersThe best way to ensure that your clients are happy is by having a solid structure in place for managing them. This means assigning an account manager to each client and scheduling a monthly management call with them. During these calls, you should communicate goals, results, and any changes that need to be made in order to better serve the client.Never Call Out the Client When communicating with your clients,
Okay, so you’re an Amazon 3rd Party Seller and you’ve decided that using Amazon ads (formerly AMS) could boost your sales and your business. Now how to start?You could plunge into the 100s of technical podcasts, blog posts and youtube videos. But if you’re new to the whole ad platform, that’s going to be overwhelming. Instead, let us walk you through the basics and give some simple but battle-tested guiding principles for practical action to boost your sales.You’ll learn What Amazon ads are – and the options What Amazon advertising can do to boost your sales The make-or-break relationship between the ads and product listing The hidden power of “intent” – what it is, why it matters How to find additional keywords – without overhelm How low price points impact the economics of advertising The simplest way to set up Amazon ads How to get Amazon to do the heavy lifting for you The simple hack to find the best keywords for your Amazon listing The one tool that covers pretty much all your keyword research needs The critical importance of 3 financial numbers Why low price points can kill your profitResources mentioned https://advertising.amazon.com/ – the login to amazon advertising (& Amazon’s explanations) Google Ad Quality Score Definition Helium10 Amazon Research Tool Suite Viral Launch Amazon Research Suite Merchantwords Google (and possibly Amazon) keyword suggestion & search volume tool Keyword Inspector (Reverse ASIN tool -meaning that you put in the ASIN -Amazon ID number – of a product into the tool and it gives a list of keywords for which the product is ranking)Interviews with Amazon Ads experts on 10K Collective podcast: Amazon ad management with Brian Johnson of Canopy Management Amazon Advertising and profits with Mike Zagare of PPC Entourage
Data-driven decision-making is a process that helps you identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that best describe your business. It also helps you identify the metrics that best reflect the impact of the changes you're making in your business. It's an analytical approach to decision-making that requires data.Instead of that, how do we get this to work in the real world? What do you measure? More importantly, how do you make sure that the metrics you choose are actually relevant to your business model? In this blog post, we'll explore some common KPI mistakes that many sellers make. We'll look at how data-driven approaches can help prevent these issues from happening.Time Stamps[00:43:43] What is Data - Driven Approach To Managing An E-Commerce Business?[01:45:70] Data Driven vs Data Informed is Better[02:51:15] Why Does Data-Driven Decision-Making Matter?[07:52:73] The S.M.A.L.L. Framework[12:40:56] KPIs You Need For Your Business[15:54:78] Are Revenue Targets A Good Plan?[19:10:33] Industry Benchmarks for Gross Margins[21:57:07] For the "Leveraged"Business - KPIs[27:29:95] Have 1 KPI Per Marketing Person[31:56:01] Data Drive U: ServicesThis article will cover: Why data-driven decision-making matters How we can put in place a data-driven approach?What are some of the ways that you can use data to make better business decisions? How will this help your ecommerce business grow?eCommerce What is a Data-Driven Approach to Managing an e-commerce businesss ?A data-driven approach to managing your e-commerce business is about using facts and figures to make decisions. This is better than just relying on your gut instinct. The process involves collecting data, analyzing it and making decisions based on the analysis.The Data-Driven Approach has three main steps: Collecting data in a systematic manner; Analyzing and interpreting the collected data. We are look fordecision-making meaningful insights for better decision making; and finally, Using those insights to improve marketing strategies, customer service or other areas of your e-commerce business. Data-DrivenData-Driven vs Data-InformedWhy Does Data-Driven Decision-Making Matter?Data-driven decision making is an important part of any business. It allows you to make better, more informed and more accurate decisions—which in turn leads to more effective business processes.The reason it’s so important is that good data gives you the insights needed to make smart choices. The choices could be about your product or service development, or marketing and sales strategies. Either way, your choices can dramatically impact your bottom line.The problem is that most companies don’t have the right tools in place to get their data and turn it into actionable insights. And those that do often find themselves drowning in an ocean of information. As a result, they waste time trying to figure out what their customers really want. Worse still, they make decisions based on bad data.More Data Doesn't Mean Better Decisions!You don't need MORE data per se. Rather, you need better and more relevant data that can help you make better decisions. More data doesn’t mean better decisions!Data can be misleading - It’s important to understand how your customers are using your products and services. But understanding the customer journey is only half of the equation when it comes to using Amazon KPIs. You may, for example, place too much weight on negative reviews. You need to have context or perspective on why something happened in the first place (if you're able).Data can be misinterpreted. How many times have we seen people get fired up over something that turned out to be false? The same thing goes with sales numbers. One set of results from one customer won't tell us enough to generalize safely.How Do We Install Data-Driven Decision-Making?You start by understanding what type of data you should collect....
Getting started as an e-commerce seller can feel intimidating in quite a few ways. One of the ways is the feeling that you have to spend a large budget just to get started. In today’s show our panel explores how you can use just $100 to get started in eCommerce.We explore physical product options, how to work with Kindle and physical books. We touch on marketing on and off Amazon. We also discuss how to approach influencers in an original way. We touch on how to approach a potential business mentor, and how you might put together your own peer group for peer-to-peer learning as well.What you’ll learn How to use Kindle books as cheap marketing tools How to approach an experienced potential e-commerce mentor Ways to influence multiple influencers for $100! The easiest way to get started in eCommerce for $100 Why checking product-market fit might be the best use of your budget! The hack for getting free marketing books to learn from When should you quit the day job and go full time with your own ecommerce business?Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Ecommerce is a constantly changing landscape. Learning the basics of product design can help you keep up with the latest trends and techniques. Getting a custom design is one of the most exciting opportunities in ecommerce. The biggest reason is making a differentiated product. Plus it’s more creative. Timestamps for Podcast[02:24:59] Why Go Custom Product?[03:27:88] Isn't It Too Expensive?[06:10:26] Which is the Hardest Part of the Process? Isn't it Manufacturing?[06:38:98] Innovate within Your Space and Create Excitement[07:14:43] Getting Focus Group Feedback[13:32:04] From Product Design To Manufacturing[14:51:22] Industrial Designer or Product Design?[19:28:66] A Good Industrial DesignerAbout our Guests- Jason Byer and Crowd SpringAre the 99 Designs of e-commerce with two tweaks. Firstly, they have a very highly selected set of designers. Secondly, their designers include industrial designers (aka product designers). Get Your Free Custom Brand Report Here ! Get a $35 Off Your First Product Here : Get It Here ! Why Custom Products are Worth While Custom products are worth the cost because of their profitability, uniqueness and usefulness. They can also be more fun for you and your customers. When you work with an industrial designer, they can help you solve a specific problem or create something that is uniquely suited to your customer’s needs.What's the difference between an e-commerce industrial designer and an e-commerce product designer?Who is an industrial designer?Industrial designers are the ones who are responsible for the look and feel of your product. They specialize in developing products that have an emotional connection with people — they create experiences, not just objects. While their work includes technical aspects, it also involves creating positive emotions, like joy or nostalgia.What's the Difference Between an e-commerce Industrial Designer and a Product Designer?The main difference between these two roles is their focus: An e-commerce industrial designer focuses on how products will look online. An e-commerce product designer usually creates physical objects that you can touch, see, or feel in person (like furniture).Creating industrial design with great utility.Your first goal should be to define the problem. Don't start with a solution. A great industrial designer will ask you questions and get you thinking about why you are doing what you're doing and how it affects people's lives. I don't know anyone who would happily use a product they hate, so if the answer is "because that's what we do," then that's not good enough! You need to think about how your product fits into people's lives, what their goals are when interacting with it, how it can improve those interactions for them (and for other people who interact with them as well).There are two things here: 1) have an idea of what kind of person is going to use this thing; 2) know where they're coming from in terms of their experiences using other products before this one—what was okay? What wasn't? How could some of those things be changed?That sounds like a lot--but really all those questions boil down into one thing: make sure users have an experience worth investing time into!Finding the best form for your e-commerce product.When it comes to e-commerce products, form is everything.It's tempting to think of form as something that just "looks nice," but in the world of industrial design and product development, form and function are inseparable. If a product doesn't do what it's supposed to do (like make coffee), then any attention paid to its appearance is wasted effort—or worse, it may even hinder its performance.So what makes good product form?Products with good form are ones that work well, and they look good while doing so. A classic example of this is the iMac computer: not only does the product fulfil its primary function (computing),
In this 2-part episode we discuss adding charitable giving to your e-commerce work and how it can help change the world, strengthen your brand, and build a better business. We also discuss challenges and cautionary tales too. You’ll learn
Common legal structures for charitable work Create ideas for giving (beyond cash) to charities Michael & Jason’s shared 1st charity experience Cautionary Tales from McDonald’s Founder’s Estate to Tom’s Shoes Tips for finding a charity that you resonate with How to get started in a wise way
Resources Mentioned
www.sewpowerful.org www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org www.voluntaryworker.co.uk/volunteering-with-meals-wheels.html
Brand Identity Definition If you're selling your products on a website, it's important to give your brand an identity. The best way to do this is with a brand strategy. A brand strategy can help you understand what makes your product different and how to communicate that to customers. It also helps you decide when it's time for a rebranding project! What is a brand identity definition? A brand identity is everything your customers associate with your products and company. A brand strategy is a plan that helps you decide how to communicate your brand. This includes things like what your logo will look like, what colors you'll use and how you're going to talk about yourself. It's all about understanding who your customers are, what they need from your product, and how you can meet those needs better than anyone else!
Timestamps for Podcast [00:35:02] Intro: Curated Marketplace For Custom Design [01:41:77] What is Brand Identity? [03:37:07] Crowdspring Offers A Wide Variety of Designer Types [06:49:41] Brand Perception is Guided By The Companies [09:37:82] The Product Has To Be Good But So Does The Whole Experience [12:07:36] What Are The Steps In Creating A Brand Identity From The Beginning? [12:38:30] The Core Brand : Visual Identity [14:03:35] Transferring Your Design Into Packaging [16:37:32] Brand Consistency [18:13:38] How Do We Get Consistency? [20:53:53] How Do We Create Brand Guidelines? Is it Necessary to Hire Someone? [23:03:76] Branding and Packaging [27:22:64] Crowdspring and their Services About our Guests- Jason Byer and Crowd Spring Are the 99 Designs of e-commerce with two tweaks. Firstly, they have a very highly selected set of designers. Secondly, their designers include industrial designers (aka product designers).
Get Your Free Custom Brand Report Here ! Get a $35 Off Your First Product Here : Get It Here !
What Does a Successful Brand Identity Look Like? If you want to build a successful brand identity, you need to start with the basics. Brand identity is the sum of all the elements that make up your brand. This includes not only what you say about your business and how it’s doing, but also how others perceive these things by looking at your logo and website, reading some of your content on social media, or watching videos on YouTube.
A successful brand identity is one where all these components work together as part of an overall strategy that helps customers understand what makes this company different from others in its market niche. It does this through:
A well-defined promise or value proposition; Clear messaging (whether verbal or visual); Consistent branding across platforms; and Appropriate use of colours, fonts and imagery
How to Create a Great Brand Identity for Your eCommerce Business A great brand identity is one that is recognizable and distinct. This means that it should be consistent across all channels, including your website, social media platforms, packaging and marketing campaigns.
Being consistent with your brand identity will allow you to establish trust among consumers. That helps them feel comfortable making purchases from you. Your logo is the key component of this. Make sure it stands out from other logos. That way, customers can easily identify it as belonging to your company. Your logo should also be memorable so that customers don't forget about you after they've made their purchase.
By using the same colors, fonts and images consistently throughout all aspects of your business operations (including packaging), you'll create an environment where customers are comfortable making purchases from you. They know exactly what they're getting into when they see one of these characteristics associated with any type of product purchased online.
How to Get Consistent Brand Identity Creating a strong visual communication system helps make sure everyone at your company knows how each other's work fits into the bigger pictur...
In this 2-part episode we discuss adding charitable giving to your e-commerce work and how it can help change the world, strengthen your brand, and build a better business. We also discuss challenges and cautionary tales too. You’ll learn
Common legal structures for charitable work Create ideas for giving (beyond cash) to charities Michael & Jason’s shared 1st charity experience Cautionary Tales from McDonald’s Founder’s Estate to Tom’s Shoes Tips for finding a charity that you resonate with How to get started in a wise way
Resources Mentioned
www.sewpowerful.org www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org www.voluntaryworker.co.uk/volunteering-with-meals-wheels.html
The High-ticket dropshipping model The high-ticket dropshipping model has multiple moving parts. But the advantages over similar ecommerce models are considerable. Compared to Private Label, it has pretty minimal startup costs. We are talking a $few hundred not $10,000 plus. And compared to retail arbitrage, or online arbitrage, it is both more scalable in the short-term, and more sellable in the medium and long-term. In many ways, it combines the best of both of those business models. Creating a marketing funnel However, if you don’t have much money to spend on advertising, it’s better to focus on building quality backlinks from websites in high-trafficked niches. If you need help getting started with SEO for e-commerce and generating organic traffic then check out my previous article.
If you are looking for a more direct approach, consider buying some Facebook ads or Google ads. You can target people who are most likely to be interested in your products and services, reaching them with well-crafted ads. Keep in mind that this will likely cost more than building backlinks—but it’s worth it if you can get the results you want.
It’s also important to note that you should use a variety of marketing tactics when trying to build your brand. This includes social media, email marketing, infographics and more.
Here are some ideas for your brand-building strategy: Write blog posts that provide useful information about your industry or niche. These are excellent content marketing tools because they attract links from other websites, which improves your search rankings. You can also use them to attract more followers on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Can you apply Dropshipping Tactics to your own Private Label? You can use the same tactics of dropshipping. But instead of getting a third party to manufacture products then ship them to your customer, you yourself manufacture and ship them to your customers.
The great thing about this is that you don't have to stick with just one product category or type. You can actually run your own private label brand if you want. All that's required is some research on what works well with this model. You'll work from developing the brand name itsel. Then you'll need to pick out which products you will sell under it and how much you will invest in marketing them.
At the end of the day, it comes down to what you want out of your business. If you are looking for a quick way to make money and don't mind spending some time researching and developing products that will sell well, then dropshipping may be right for you.
If, on the other hand, you want to build a stable and long-term business that will provide consistent income for years to come, then private labeling may be better for your needs. Can a High-ticket dropshipping model create a Sellable business? The value of your dropshipping business will increase as you add more marketing assets. So it’s important that you decide how best to do this. You can choose to build an online store yourself or pay someone else to do it for you. Whichever option you choose, it will help improve the value of your business and increase its overall worth.
However, if you have a high ticket product range and want to sell them on your own storefront, then there may be fewer buyers interested. That's because they don’t fit into the price range that most people are looking for when searching for products online (i.e., under $100). This means that building up these kinds of stores might not be as easy as they seem at first glance; however, if you do it correctly, they could still prove profitable over time.
Another way would be through Private Label (PL), where instead of buying products wholesale directly from suppliers themselves like other sellers do - sellers who use PL buy them from wholesalers instead but put their own brand names on them rather than using expensive ones such as Nike or Apple etcetera which woul...
E-commerce buying and selling is skyrocketing in use. Now is the perfect time to launch your own Shopify store and begin selling direct to the public. In this 2nd part of our 1-part episode, we finish exploring 9 valuable reasons that is true – drawing on Jason’s work with thousands of Shopify store owners as well as his own experience with brands. What you’ll learn
A surprising list of business experts that support Shopify Understanding the use of Shopify as the e-commerce hub-and-spoke tool. How integration partners are pushing Shopify further ahead. A consideration of the Apps available on Shopify
Resources Mentioned
Shopify Power: Build An Ecommerce Website Using Shopify Sell Online With Shopify
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
What is Drop Shipping? Drop shipping is when a store doesn’t keep inventory and instead buys from a supplier and then has the supplier ship directly to the customer.
This is a fulfillment method for online retailers. Drop shipping gives you a chance to sell products that you don't have in your possession, which means you can offer more products for your customers. There are many benefits of drop shipping.
Another simple but easily-missed point is that because it demands no cash tied up in inventory, it is much more scalable if it takes off. All ecommerce operators reach a a point where growing their business means expanding the catalogue a lot. Private label sellers often find they need to find an extra $100-500,000 in funding. Many simply can't do it; others have to enter the risk of very large loans or investing their life savings. The high-ticket dropshipping model just bypasses this issue. Drop Shipping Explained Drop shipping is a method of selling goods without having to keep them in stock. In this case, the supplier ships the goods directly to the customer. The retailer receives payment from their customers and pays the supplier afterwards. This allows you to have a website or physical storefront without having to purchase product ahead of time and risk tying up your capital in inventory that might not sell.
Again though there are now ready off-the-shelf solutions, so technical know-how is no longer much of a barrier. High-Ticket Drop Shipping High-ticket drop shipping is a business model that focuses on selling high-ticket items. The reason this type of drop shipping works so well is because high-ticket items have much higher profit margins, which means you can make more money with less sales.
High-ticket items also require far fewer customers to generate the same revenue as low-margin products, which makes it easier for your company to grow . You’ll find yourself with fewer customers overall because each one will be spending a lot more money than someone who buys a lower priced item. That means you have far fewer headaches when it comes time to manage your customer base! How Does Drop Shipping Work? Drop shipping works like this: You find a product you want to sell, and then you make an agreement with the supplier that lets you sell it without having to buy the inventory first.
The arrangement is simple—you tell your drop shipper what products you want to sell, and they take care of everything else. They will handle orders, ship them out directly to customers, collect payment from customers on your behalf, and then ship those items directly back to you after they've been sold (this is called "fulfillment"). And because the suppliers have already taken care of the cost of buying the inventory for themselves (which is usually pretty high), there are usually no setup fees involved in starting a drop shipping business! How to Start Your Dropshipping Business! Now that you know what drop shipping is and how it works, let's get started with setting up your own dropshipping store.
First, register a domain. Ben uses Namecheap but anywhere similar will do. $12 a year Get a google workspace and an email address for about $12 a month. Get some professional but simple branding work done. You need a logo and a simple home page with sliders or well laid-out images. Cost around $100. Set up Shopify. This will be your online store platform where all of your products will be stored and sold from. That costs around $29 a month. Next, choose a niche product that you want to sell in order to start building your customer base. You can make the most money if you find something that no one else has already started selling yet! It's best if this niche product is high ticket (at least $50) because it means customers are more likely to buy from you instead of going directly through Amazon/Ebay or whatever other site they're familiar with buying things on already.
E-commerce buying and selling is skyrocketing in use. Now is the perfect time to launch your own Shopify store and begin selling direct to the public. In this 2-part episode, we begin exploring 9 valuable reasons that is true – drawing on Jason’s work with thousands of Shopify store owners as well as his own experience with brands. What you’ll learn
Reason 1-5 of why Shopify is a terrific solution for e-commerce sellers. What keeps Amazon seller’s up-at-night and how to solve it The alternatives to Shopify that you should avoid How building a business with a partner that has opposing objectives can ruin things
Resources Mentioned
E-Commerce Sales Will Explode This Holiday Season Shopify Power: Build An Ecommerce Website Using Shopify Sell online with Shopify
Ken Burke, founder and CEO of The EntrepreneurNOW! Network, is a speaker, serial entrepreneur, mentor, and author.
Ken founded MarketLive, a market-leading, enterprise class eCommerce software platform used by major merchants generating $2b in online sales through the platform.
He sold MarketLive to Vista Equity Partners in 2016. Ken authored the book, “Intelligent Selling: The Art and Science of Selling Online,” as well as hundreds of industry articles.
He earned his MBA in Entrepreneurship from the USC Marshall School of Business, which later awarded him the honor of Entrepreneur of the Year.
Business strategy during recession for Amazon & E-commerce Introduction The economy is in the midst of its longest recession in a century. In this volatile time, it’s important that you have a strategy to stay viable as an Amazon and e-commerce business owner. Let's take a look at some ways that you can keep your business moving forward during these uncertain times! Ken Burke's 2001 Dot.com Crash experience Ken Burke was a serial entrepreneur with a background in technology. He started out selling computer hardware before moving onto software development, building his first company from the ground up. At the height of the dot com crash his company survived. What happened on the other side of the recession was much better: in 2003-06, they had their best season ever. Europe and UK may face long-term recession or stagnation The current recession is not simply a one-off event. It's the beginning of a long period of stagnation, or even decline, for Europe and UK as well. The reason is simple: Gas is not only in short supply now, it will be for the foreseeable future because shale gas production has peaked out in US and no country outside of US has made any significant progress towards developing shale gas reserves.
Germany was the engine of European economy due to its large manufacturing sector which depended on cheap energy (gas) to be competitive globally. Germany's industry accounted for 36% share of total industrial output globally in 2015[1], making it largest exporter among all European countries.
But that can't continue as German manufacturing industry depends on cheap energy and Russia controls almost all gas supplies into Europe through Nord Stream pipeline and other pipelines through Eastern Europe. Nowadays gas prices have increased significantly due to sanctions imposed upon Russian Federation following annexation Crimea from Ukraine. Sadly there is little prospect of that changing. Even if Russia makes peace soon, its supplies will have been permanently damaged, or shut down.
Luckily there is an alternative, giant market of consumers which should be thriving... How to play in Amazon USA, the most robust market The medium-term economic future for the USA is much brighter than for Europe. The US has become self-sufficient in oil and natural gas. North America also has some of the healthiest demographics in any developed continent, with a combined population of over 500 million people. It has a continent-sized market in North America with NAFTA 2.0 with Mexico and Canada expected to boost trade even further (and hopefully end tariffs).
America is also retooling its factories at record speed, which is helping to generate jobs and investment at home rather than overseas as well as keep import costs low while boosting exports - all good news for eCommerce players like Amazon! Taking over your market The period towards the end of a recession can be a period where you get to take over the market. The main reason for this is because of the economy in general and how people react to it. When there is an economic downturn, many companies will either merge or go under completely because they cannot afford to stay in business anymore. This means that there is more room for new competitors who have been able to survive during this time and are looking for ways to make money back into their company's p...
In our initial episode about Paid Social” we outlined 3 big goals. In today’s conversation we’re continuing the discussion about how to engage warm traffic with effective social media advertising. What you’ll learn
A 2 Step Process for getting cold traffic very inexpensively, then retargeting them via (Facebook). Engagement goals and other non-sales goals for warm traffic. remarketing via (Google Adwords). How Live-Commerce Techniques and goals are transforming e-commerce businesses Forming direct sales strategies with social ads
Resources Mentioned
www.streamyard.com www.commentsold.com
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
How Does Entrepreneur Decision-Making Work in Real Life? Entrepreneur decision-making works in a variety of ways. Some entrepreneurs prefer to gather as much information as possible before making a choice, while others simply follow their gut instinct.Regardless of your decision-making style, there are some principles you should always keep in mind:
Action creates momentum – If it feels like you've been stuck on the same problem for days or weeks without any progress, then it's time to take action. The more time spent thinking about how to solve a problem without actually solving it will just lead to frustration and an eventual loss of motivation. Test, measure and adjust – When trying out new ideas or testing different solutions for problems, don't be afraid to try things out quickly and see what works best (and what doesn't). Use this process as an opportunity for learning so that you can learn from your mistakes while they're still fresh in your mind instead of later down the road when they might have cost you too much money or time already!
Tactics for Entrepreneur Decision-Making- the Decision Matrix There are three things that you need to do in order for you to make your own decision. List the criteria for the decision. This is the most difficult part because it requires thinking about what matters and why it matters, but it's also very important because you cannot weight a factor if you don't know what's being weighted in the first place. Make sure that all of your criteria are relevant and appropriate for this type of decision and don't get carried away by making too many or too few; this will help keep things simple later on when calculating weights (see below). Weight each of your criteria numerically based on their relative importance (so 1 = high priority, 5 = low priority). To give an example: suppose I'm trying decide whether or not I want my ecommerce website design done by an agency rather than doing it myself. One of my criteria might be "time spent", since developing websites takes me a significant amount of time every month; another might be "cost", because agencies often charge more per hour than freelancers do; yet another could be "quality", since hiring someone else means outsourcing some portion of control over how well my site looks or functions.
The point here is not just listing them—you must think about these factors as having varying levels of importance depending upon which option(s) from our list above we're considering at any given moment during our evaluation process (e.g., if we had chosen Option A instead of Option B above, then cost would no longer matter as much). Do the math After this, it's a simple question of multiplying and comparing:
In a spreadhseet, you'd have the options or choices in rows down the left-hand column, and the criteria along column headers going left to right.
for each possible option or choice, you'll have a score for each criterion For each of these criteria boxes, you'll need to multiple the score by the "weight" you've which of multiplying the score of each possible option by the "weight" for has the most weight then add up the total score across all the criteria for each decision. Finally, look at the relative scores of each decision.
Like most maths, and all spreadsheets, it's so much easier to see it on an actual spreadsheet!
Ken has created a spreadsheet that does the heavy lifting for you with a structured approach to decisions. Click here for his free entrepreneur decision matrix spreadsheet. Have 3-Year Financial Forecast! And Measure the Decisions A key tool for Entrepreneur Decision-Making is financial forecasting. It is imperative that you know where your business is going, so it’s important to have a financial forecast. You need a forecast for the next 3 years - and this is a shock to many entrepreneurs because they don't even have a one-year forecast.
In our initial episode about Paid Social” we outlined 3 big goals. In today’s conversation we’re going to give you “The Secret” and really unpack the 3 big ideas with tons of actionable tips and insights for each. What you’ll learn
Who Paid Social Media Ads are ideal for The ideal sequence of when paid social media ads should be used A budget rule-of-thumb for paid social media advertising How long it takes to get results with paid social media ads A terrific Facebook Video Strategy that works really well in support of paid social ads. How Pinterest Promoted Pins factor into paid social media ads Ad Instagram Ad strategy that you can start with just a few dollars.
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Inventory is the lifeblood of your Amazon business. It's how you make money, and it can also be how you lose money. The trick is to make sure that you're using inventory to make decisions in your business rather than letting it control your business decisions. This post will cover a few different ways that inventory can be used to manage your Amazon business. The new Way to Use Inventory Inventory management at its most basic is a system of passive records. Of course, it's important to get this organised. But to leave it at that is to miss a lot of critical insights into your consmers. IInventory isn't just a record of widgets sitting in warehouses. In fact, it is a system of engagement with customers. It’s more than just a record: it tells a story about each customer and the interactions you have with them over time.
Inventory reconciliation can be one of the most challenging parts of managing your Amazon business, but it doesn't have to be! You can use inventory reports to avoid shortages or out-of-stock products, improve order fulfillment times, and make better decisions about how to grow your business.
In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to use inventory reports to actually see customer trends. You need a place where you aggregate data You need a place where you can aggregate data.
This sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s actually the root issue with inventory management.
You need to think about how your product is going to be sold, how you will get it out the door, and how your inventory system needs to support all of these things.
The best way to do this is by thinking about how your inventory system will support each of these things individually. Then, once you’ve figured that out, you can start combining them together. Looking for inventory clues When you're looking to identify the root cause of your inventory gaps and ways to solve them, it's important to consider the inventory clues you'll find in your product data.
First of all, when you look at current orders and sales for a particular SKU (stock keeping unit), you can see if there are any patterns that might indicate an upcoming gap. If a product is selling well and will soon be out of stock, it's time to order more from your supplier or manufacturer. This is especially true if your costs per unit are going down as well—that means you'll earn more profit by ordering more units!
Next up: customer insights! While analyzing customer data may sound like an overwhelming task because of how much information is available with Amazon Fulfillment API tools like Seller Central Reports and Vendor Central Reports, we've got some simple tips for getting started on this fun project that could lead to some big improvements in your business strategy: 3 Key Data points to look for There are three key data points you need to look for:
Date received to date bought by consumer Accounts receivable ageing by product Market sizing.
This is how you get the size of your market. The first step is to identify what product or service you are selling, then using that as a benchmark to find out how many people are buying it. This can be done either through surveys and interviews with potential customers or by looking at sales data from your current customer base.
Then, you can use this information to find out how much each of your customers are spending on your product or service. This can help you get a sense of how big your market is and what kind of potential there is for growth. Once you have this data, it becomes much easier to make financial projections about future sales and profits. The Magic of Aged Accounts Receivable Aged accounts receivable (A/R) is the term used to describe the amount of time that passes between when you sell a product and when your customer pays you for it. For example, if a customer buys an item from your store and doesn't pay within two weeks, the A/R would be calculated as 2 weeks.
Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform in the world. It has more than 300 million active users and 45 million products offered by third-party sellers. If you listen regularly to this podcast, you may have been selling on Amazon yourself for quite some time. But many Amazon sellers struggle to get sales. Of those that do get sales, many fight to get mediocre profits. Even 7 figure sellers I work with have this challenge. The solution? Become a category king and dominate your niche! Before we dive into how to find a niche on Amazon, let's discuss what a profitable niche on Amazon is.
A niche market is a market that focuses on a specific category or even single product type. There are many reasons why you should consider niching down if you want to increase sales and profits. In the US, the e-commerce market was valued at $601.75 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $735 billion by 2027. Looking to get into the online retail game? Or increase your reach? Amazon is the place to be. But first, you'll have to find your niche—the sweet spot that gives you a competitive edge and makes you stand out from the crowd.
You could go after a big category like "home goods," but if you're not big enough or well-known enough for them yet, it'll be difficult for you to compete against established brands like Home Depot or Lowe's. Instead of jumping into an already crowded market, consider going after an underserved niche where there's less competition and fewer sellers competing for search engine visibility. How Big Retailers Know Which Category will be Profitable? The truth is that nobody really knows why some categories are more profitable than others. There is no magic formula or algorithm to finding a profitable niche on Amazon and becoming your "category king." But there are some things you can do to increase your chances of success.
Know Your Customer: The first step in any business venture is understanding who your customers are, what they want, and how much they're willing to pay for it. When searching for a profitable category I like to use tools like Helium10 so that I can see what people are searching for before entering into the market space as well as how much competition exists within each individual keyword phrase (and what keywords potential competitors might be using). This gives me an idea of whether or not this specific niche has enough demand from consumers while also keeping me away from areas where there isn't enough demand but still plenty of competitors in place already.
To Do This Well You Need to Understand How Consumers Shop Online. To do this well you need to understand how consumers shop online. Amazon shoppers are no different from other shoppers. They like quick and easy, so they want to find what they're looking for as quickly as possible.
Once you've done the research, it's time to niche down even further. If you choose a product category with too many competitors, it will be hard for you to compete successfully against them because there's not enough room for all of your listings on page one of Amazon search results (and that's where most customers start).
You can use a tool like JungleScout that helps with finding profitable niches on Amazon by analyzing their data and giving insights into which products have good demand potential based on estimated sales volume per month or year over time - this way it will be easier to find those products that might perform better than others within certain categories or subcategories which tend not only sell better but also rank higher in terms of overall search performance due mostly due increased visibility among consumers who aren't aware yet about what exactly they want most urgently at any given moment when looking up something specific online (like "men's watches"). How to reach out to consumers If you're a consumer, and you're looking for a solution to your problem, where do you go? As the top 20% of consumers will have already ...
Famous Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Laundry once said,
“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.”
As coaches and as coachees or mentees – we both know – coaching CAN lead to huge rewards for the business owner using the coach. In this special 2-part episode we discuss how to get the most out of your relationship with a coach and use a coach as a way to accelerate your business growth, profits and peace of mind! What you’ll learn
What you can learn from guitar lessons with Segovia’s students 5 key functions of a high-impact coach 5 things to look for in a coach
E-commerce and Business Books & Resources mentioned
www.winningonshopify.com www.amazingfba.com/mentoring www.Theamazonmastermind.com
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Ben Kotch is an investor and advisor in various early and growth-stage companies including many e-commerce ventures.
He is an active Amazon seller and advises thousands of Amazon business owners through his affiliation with ALGO Online Retail What You'll Learn
A Simple Division : Debt vs Equity Investments : Where to start when asking for a loan The equity for AccrueMe : “preferred equity investment” What's A Good Use for Loans? The value of equity and just how it makes sense for Ben An creating an Exit Strategy on your Loan
Resources
Ben Kotch is an investor and advisor in various early and growth-stage companies including many e-commerce ventures.
He is an active Amazon seller and advises thousands of Amazon business owners through his affiliation with ALGO Online Retail What You'll Learn
How did Ben started his business with AccrueMe The value Ben saw in the market that gave birth to AccrueMe Why should you go to AccrueMe for funding? Understanding the Metrics of Investment The Upside Down of Debt What Ben sees on the profit trends on FBA
Resources
Famous Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Laundry once said,
“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.”
As coaches and as coachees or mentees – we both know – coaching CAN lead to huge rewards for the business owner using the coach. In this special 2-part episode we discuss how to get the most out of your relationship with a coach and use a coach as a way to accelerate your business growth, profits and peace of mind! What you’ll learn
What you can learn from guitar lessons with Segovia’s students 5 key functions of a high-impact coach 5 things to look for in a coach
E-commerce and Business Books & Resources mentioned
www.winningonshopify.com www.amazingfba.com/mentoring www.Theamazonmastermind.com
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Amazon Keyword Research Tool is a tool used to find relevant keywords for your product or service. You can use this tool to find specific keywords and phrases, perform regular keyword research, or just see which words people are using in their searches on Amazon. Jana Krekic have always wanted for YLT Translations to provide the top results for your brands. That’s why her team only hire native translators that are trained for Amazon translations. Her team consists of around 80 native speakers, who take content and localize it to convert and engage in a seller’s target country. Each translator is well-versed in Amazon’s dynamic and ever-changing landscape, and can perform the keyword research and write the copy needed to improve conversions and engagement. What You'll Learn
Cutting costs from a lot of Sellers in 2022, What Happened? Jana shares her experience when working with Aggregators during Covid Working with Big Corporations, is it worth it? The importance of documentation and creating a company deck What do corporates do badly that SMEs do well? What’s my competitive advantage as SME owner?
Resources
Find out more about Helium10! Get your SemRush App Here!
Amazon Keyword Research Tool is a tool used to find relevant keywords for your product or service. You can use this tool to find specific keywords and phrases, perform regular keyword research, or just see which words people are using in their searches on Amazon. Jana Krekic have always wanted for YLT Translations to provide the top results for your brands. That’s why her team only hire native translators that are trained for Amazon translations. Her team consists of around 80 native speakers, who take content and localize it to convert and engage in a seller’s target country. Each translator is well-versed in Amazon’s dynamic and ever-changing landscape, and can perform the keyword research and write the copy needed to improve conversions and engagement. What You'll Learn
The State of eCommerce - What Does it Mean for the Keyword Research Tool? Why are These Keyword Tools So Popular? What's Really Going on Behind the Scenes? The Amazon Keyword Research Tool is H10. Using H10 and Data Drive Tool to maximize nice research The Amazon Keyword Research Tool has limitations and can't answer every question. In this episode, Jana will demonstrate some of the limitations of the Amazon keyword research tool.
Resources
Find out more about Helium10! Get your SemRush App Here!
The Live-Selling wars are heating up like never before. In recent months Amazon has doubled down on it’s push to make e-commerce a live event by offering it’s LiveStream App, and Nordstrom has launched it’s own live-stream channel.
In this episode we discuss how to leverage this new opportunity to sell more goods with 3 quick tips. What you’ll learn
The basic selling formula. How Amazon and QVC are going head-to-head How Streamyard can power your live selling efforts. How to make on-screen text overlays for live selling using Canva. 3 Proven ways to hook a viewer at the start of your live-selling video
Resources for product development
https://www.amazon.com/live www.streamyard.com www.canva.com
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Chris started his career in CPG, having worked for companies ranging between 20-500MM as a Sales & Marketing Executive.
Leveraging his experience, he has consulted all types of digital and omni channel brands. As a co-founder of Global Wired Advisors, they have closed over $1 Billion in transactions. What You'll Learn
A history with Yoni from Escala and Multiply Mii called with an idea The 4 Areas that they help with a brand : Capital, Product, Marketing and Target businesses What target business does GWA offers The parties involved with GWA The aim of GWA is to sell the best strategic fit. Finding the Opportunity to “Really become a brand”
Resources
Apply now for a Consultation with SouthCol!
Chris started his career in CPG, having worked for companies ranging between 20-500MM as a Sales & Marketing Executive.
Leveraging his experience, he has consulted all types of digital and omni channel brands. As a co-founder of Global Wired Advisors, they have closed over $1 Billion in transactions. What You'll Learn
Who are global wired advisors? Understanding the difference between Bankers and Brokers What is going on with Amazon Aggregators? What should business owners do? Should business owners sell now? Chris shares his two cents on selling. Should you sell now in this environment?
Resources
Apply now for a Consultation with SouthCol!
Adding a new e-commerce team member doesn’t have to be hard. There are 3 areas to cover when you’re bringing on your new person – and in this 2nd part of our 2-part conversation, we’re going to cover dig into the final details.
What You'll Learn
The 1st and 2nd Core areas of onboarding for new team members – and how to get them right. Tech Tools & Processes that help make onboarding easy. Tools
Slack Asana Chromecast Monday Transferwise Paypal Zoom
Born in Vancouver, BC. Lives in Boise, Idaho.
Trent is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of Flowster.app and a complete nerd when it comes to creating scalable business processes. Prior to starting Flowster, Trent was the host of the long-running Bright Ideas podcast where he spent over a decade interviewing successful founders. In addition to being CEO of Flowster, Trent is also the founder of a digital agency that ranked #254 and #622 on the Inc 5000 in 2019 and 2020.
Profit Magazine named Trent’s first company as one of Canada’s PROFIT 100 fastest growing companies for two years in a row before he sold it in 2008. Business in Vancouver magazine named Trent a Top 40 Under 40 Entrepreneur.
What You'll Learn
The power of using a VA How to hire and onboard a virtual assistant Ask people to do tasks that they have done before You can work with people on ways to save money on the front end so you can pay them more
Resources Here
Find out more about Flowster Here!
Born in Vancouver, BC. Lives in Boise, Idaho.
Trent is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of Flowster.app and a complete nerd when it comes to creating scalable business processes. Prior to starting Flowster, Trent was the host of the long-running Bright Ideas podcast where he spent over a decade interviewing successful founders. In addition to being CEO of Flowster, Trent is also the founder of a digital agency that ranked #254 and #622 on the Inc 5000 in 2019 and 2020.
Profit Magazine named Trent’s first company as one of Canada’s PROFIT 100 fastest growing companies for two years in a row before he sold it in 2008. Business in Vancouver magazine named Trent a Top 40 Under 40 Entrepreneur.
What You'll Learn
Why you need an SOP When do you need an SOP Checklist for when you need an SOP What should You tackle first? How to create an SOP How to make an SOP for something you haven’t done before, How to keep up to date How to share with team Easy way to run and grow your business
Resources Here
Find out more about Flowster Here!
Adding a new e-commerce team member doesn’t have to be hard. There are 3 areas to cover when you’re bringing on your new person – and in this 2-part episode we’re going to explore the initial details. What you’ll learn
The 1st and 2nd Core areas of onboarding for new team members – and how to get them right. Tech Tools & Processes that help make onboarding easy.
Tools
Skype Chat Google Docs Zoom Airtable Daily Email/Template
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Let's face it. Insurance isn't something that most of us get excited about. When you sell on Amazon, it's not usually your top of mind worry either. But maybe it should be. Getting your account suspended because you don’t meet Amazon seller insurance requirements is no joke.
If you get it wrong, it can be a bigger issue than you might realise. With recent changes like the one on the .com platform around deductibles, or Issues with recalls, we need to be more aware than most of us are about the details of Amazon selling insurance.
Luckily today's guest, Ashlin Hadden, is perfectly placed to guide us through these rapids. With a professional advisor and proper insurance in place, you’re doing what all professional business owners should: protecting your business. What You’ll Learn
The requirements for selling on the .COM platform. Do other companies outside US, sue as much as US? Understanding the price of having a premium product A list items to stay away from unless ROI is great
Resources
Get Your Sample Insurance Policy here! For more information about Ashlin you can check her out on their website.
Every decent Amazon seller knows that getting great images is really vital for their Amazon listing. That is absolutely true. They also know that hiring a great photographer or image professional is critical.
Sadly, when it comes to communications, many Amazon sellers snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! Creating a great brief for your image pro's is vital -hence today's show with our expert, Daisi Sepulveda.
What You'll Learn
Making a Brief for an eCommerce Video Content Creator
Resources Here
UGC Guide and Course Use the Promo Code : AMAZINGFBA20 for a Discounted Price for MyProductModel
Tip Of The Week: How do you improve your e-commerce conversion rate?
Start by looking at your mobile usage stats. In this tip Jason shows how to use free tools to examine and then improve your mobile e-commcere conversion rate. We show you how using a simple tool in this weeks
Every decent Amazon seller knows that getting great images is really vital for their Amazon listing. That is absolutely true. They also know that hiring a great photographer or image professional is critical.
Sadly, when it comes to communications, many Amazon sellers snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! Creating a great brief for your image pro's is vital -hence today's show with our expert, Daisi Sepulveda.
What You'll Learn
The Importance of Having a Brief The several ways to collect user-generated content and use it to build your brand. How Daist integrated UGC service into myproductmodel
Resources Here
UGC Guide and Course Use the Promo Code : AMAZINGFBA20 for a Discounted Price for MyProductModel
Daisi is a “Modelpreneur” – former Miss Jamaica, Founder of My product Model.com which is an agency for eCommerce entrepreneurs to get incredible photography; also the founder of “Brazen Influencers”, an agency that links eCommerce sellers and influencers.
What You'll Learn
How to understand User Generated Content What is UGC How do you use UGC? You can use UGC in so many ways! How to encourage UGC What makes a good UGC image? Using UGC in your ad creatives
Resources Here
UGC Guide and Course Use the Promo Code : AMAZINGFBA20 for a Discounted Price for MyProductModel
Return-On-Investment (ROI) concepts applied to e-commerce – is one of our e-commerce 1st principles. In this 2-part episode we’re going to discuss 3 ROI super-strategies to help you clarify your approach to ROI thinking, and scale up your online selling business. What you’ll learn
3 ROI Super-Strategies To Help You Scale Your Business Vital Questions For ROI Thinking For E-commerce
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Ah team building! The mythic solution to all our problems! The problem is of course that this is not only not easy, it's new to most solopreneurs. Even those with substantial teams in UK or USA etc. (Home country) have a steep learning curve when it comes to remote hiring and managing.
Luckily today's guest, Mina Elias, has been hiring a remote team at great speed! So he's here to share how to crack this particular nut... What You’ll Learn
When you have to work from home, things can get hectic. To make sure you aren’t missing out on anything, here are some tips on how to manage remotely and still keep up with your routine. The tools used by Mina when it comes to managing his team Workflow and SOPs by Mina You can keep on track with these tools and steps to help you achieve goals. How to become a GOAL manager not a TASK manager Mina's Corporate Structure : “You Will Do Whatever It Takes”
Ah team building! The mythic solution to all our problems! The problem is of course that this is not only not easy, it's new to most solopreneurs. Even those with substantial teams in UK or USA etc. (Home country) have a steep learning curve when it comes to remote hiring and managing.
Luckily today's guest, Mina Elias, has been hiring a remote team at great speed! So he's here to share how to crack this particular nut... What You’ll Learn
Taking it back to basics here - How Mina hired and onboarded my new project manager remotely. Hiring and onboarding people remotely is no longer a gimmicky idea. It’s a must-have for growing your business. Hiring and onboarding can be a difficult process, especially if you are trying to do it remotely or with large teams. Mina will share some tips for hiring and onboarding your team. We've got the answers you need to save time and money, hire and onboard remotely. If you’re a full time employee of your company and Amazon is a side hustle, take some of your salary and put some towards an employee for Amazon business. Better Beginner Process with Mina Mina talks about his thoughts on CV and why CVs are not effective during the hiring process. The 16- Personality test is a great way to get an accurate read on your personality and work style.
Return-On-Investment (ROI) concepts applied to e-commerce – is one of our e-commerce 1st principles. In this 2-part episode we’re going to discuss 3 ROI super-strategies to help you clarify your approach to ROI thinking, and scale up your online selling business. What you’ll learn
3 ROI Super-Strategies To Help You Scale Your Business Vital Questions For ROI Thinking For E-commerce
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Germany is still Amazon's second biggest marketplace by value in the world, beating the UK and Japan. It's a great opportunity for many sellers to sell there.
However...
UK, American, Australian Amazon Sellers - or any other non-European sellers - struggle to export to the EU. Whether it's VAT, customs or other red tape, it's often confusing and frustrating.
For UK sellers, Brexit has been a brutal experience. From being able to sell effortlessly, we’ve had to learn to jump through ever-changing hoops.
Step forward Avask. Used by several 10K Collective mastermind members, they are tried and trusted experts in solving these problems - and getting us access to those lucrative European markets!
What You'll Learn
Understanding the shipping polices in Germany The cause and effects of engaging with German customs The Alternatives : UK to Netherlands Discover the EPRs for UK-Based People Other things other than VAT and indirect rep do we need in place
Get In Touch
Find Out More About Avask More info about exports Book A Call with Jacob
Germany is still Amazon's second biggest marketplace by value in the world, beating the UK and Japan. It's a great opportunity for many sellers to sell there. However... UK, American, Australian Amazon Sellers - or any other non-European sellers - struggle to export to the EU. Whether it's VAT, customs or other red tape, it's often confusing and frustrating. For UK sellers, Brexit has been a brutal experience. From being able to sell effortlessly, we’ve had to learn to jump through ever-changing hoops. Step forward Avask. Used by several 10K Collective mastermind members, they are tried and trusted experts in solving these problems - and getting us access to those lucrative European markets! What You'll Learn
The benefits of considering shipping to non-European sellers The common misconceptions of of shipping How to approach European markets Start with UK and Expand to other places, why is it the best option You need someone for customs to clear shipping
Get In Touch
Find out more about Avask More info about exports Book A Call with Jacob
Instagram is incredibly hot!
I’m honored to have written Instagram Power with McGraw Hill in 2014.
Until then, we’ve written a little ebook for you – just as a starter tool.
Simply follow us on Facebook Messenger and it’s all yours!
Resources :
Download the Ebook Here!
Bookkeepers and entrepreneurs sometimes feel like they speak separate languages! And many e-commerce sellers are not very familiar with hiring experts. So there are a few errors of communication it’s critical to watch out for as an eCommerce operator when hiring and communicating with a book-keeper
Muddling up personal and business banking, not telling bookkeepers critical information; assuming bookkeepers know everything - these are some of the ways entrepreneurs shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to communicating with bookkeepers! But there are a few simple rules of thumb that Nathan and his team have developed to get much smoother communication!
About Nathan Nathan Hirsch is a lifelong entrepreneur and currently the CEO of EcomBalance and Outsource School. Nathan is best known for co-founding FreeUp.net in 2015 with an initial $5,000 investment, scaling it to $12 million in yearly revenue, and having it acquired in 2019. Today, he leads EcomBalance, an online bookkeeping service for eCommerce and digital businesses, and Outsource School, a membership teaching business owners how to hire effectively online. Nathan has appeared on 400+ podcasts, is a social media personality. Him and his wife live in Denver, Colorado with his two dogs where they are foster parents.
What You’ll learn
Why a kick-off call matters with your book keeper and what you should cover in it Why the first 30 days is critical and what needs to happen during that period Why sharing your key metrics is so important How assumptions can damage communications How to deal with large purchases How to make sure your tax accounts tie in with your book keeping
There's a saying "it's not the things you don't know that hurt you; it's the things you think you do know and are wrong!
Bookkeeping is one of the areas in which I see e-commerce sellers messing up the most in my client work. Many people simply ignore the numbers, which is a bit frightening. Other people, however, I think they're doing things the right way but they are in fact not! And that is possibly the most dangerous of all. Join Nathan Hirsch of ecombalance to find those errors and how to work with a book-keeper to correct them!
About Nathan Nathan Hirsch is a lifelong entrepreneur and currently the CEO of EcomBalance and Outsource School. Nathan is best known for co-founding FreeUp.net in 2015 with an initial $5,000 investment, scaling it to $12 million in yearly revenue, and having it acquired in 2019. Today, he leads EcomBalance, an online bookkeeping service for eCommerce and digital businesses, and Outsource School, a membership teaching business owners how to hire effectively online. Nathan has appeared on 400+ podcasts, is a social media personality. Him and his wife live in Denver, Colorado with his two dogs where they are foster parents.
What You’ll learn
Why there is no situation where you should do your own books as an entrepreneur Why doing your books yourself badly may cost you more than hiring a book keeper! What tools to avoid in book-keeping The only 2 recommended book-keeping software systems Why cash basis accounting is a big error for ecommerce businesses What the key document is that you and your book keeper need to understand The 3 things you can’t avoid paying for when you start in business
In this week’s video Kyle and I discuss Shiny Object Syndrome. Why it happens, but also when and how to use it to your advantage to grow your business!
Of course we also share tips for how to avoid it when it’s hurting you.
Many of my big seller friends in the UK made millions of pounds and Euros before Brexit. Same is true for the 7-figure clients in my mastermind.
But after Brexit, many went from €1 million or more a year in Europe to a handful of Euros. It's been a painful road back for some of us. So is selling into Amazon Europe still viable? And if most of your stock is in the UK to start with, how do we cross the EU barrier?
There seem to be so many issues. Between VAT registration, "indirect representatives", and customs declarations, it can seem very intimidating. Add in the vagaries of the German and French governments and it can feel like it's not worthwhile.
There are two reasons to rethink this position.
Let's look at the opportunity first.
Firstly, the size of the opportunity is bigger than ever. The pandemic boosted sales in Germany as it did in all Amazon marketplace. Relative to other marketplaces, Germany is the 2nd biggest in the world. Relative to its own size 2 or 3 years ago, it's huge. Either way, it's a huge market.
Secondly, if you're facing barriers, so are your competitors. If you can solve this problem, you face much lower competition than you would in equivalent UK or US markets.
But what about all those niggly problems?
Luckily, all is not as bad as it seems. For starters, companies exist that specialise in solving exactly this kind of problem. Companies like Global Ecomm Experts in fact! Then also, the practices have been stabilising between the UK and EU. Plus, some countries are easier to deal with than others. Find the smoother path into Europe via those countries, and it all becomes much more doable.
What You'll Learn
Understanding the Pre-Brexit and Post-Brexit economy The current situation and how this will benefit your business What's the next step, Post-Brexit? Customs and the importance of having an Indirect Rep The best way to scale your brand! The complications of EFN
Resources
Get in touch with Global Ecommerce Experts Connect with Andy Hooper
Selling in Europe has been a goal for many Amazon sellers.
Whether you're based in UK or USA it's always a siren call. But is it worth the hassle?
Many of my big seller friends in the UK made millions of pounds and Euros before Brexit. Same is true for the 7-figure clients in my mastermind.
But about post Brexit? Is it still viable?
There seem to be so many issues. Between VAT registration, "indirect representatives", and customs declarations, it can seem very intimidating. Add in the vagaries of the German government and it can feel like it's not worthwhile.
If that's how you feel, it's worth thinking again. For starters, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK together account for well over 2/3 of all European Amazon sales. And with German sales being even bigger than UK ones, they are problems worth solving. Particularly as you're not the only seller facing these problems. And on the other side of barriers to entry are: less competitive markets!
We talk to the specialist in solving these issues, Andy Hooper of Global Ecommerce Experts.
What You'll Learn
The opportunities of selling Amazon in Europe The benefits of expanding your market to Europe The main reason why people are scared in selling in Europe Understand VAT Compliance and get yourself ahead with your competition Finding the common red tape issues The benefits of being an entrepreneur instead of a shipping agent The pains of shipping in some areas in Europe
Resources
Get in touch with Global Ecommerce Experts Connect with Andy Hooper
In this video we discuss how you can set up and run a membership program on a Shopify website. We share details about our program and explain the benefits of the model.
Today we will continue with Off-Amazon PPC and Amazon Attribution with Hai Mag and it's marketing value to your business.
Amazon Advertising is a mixed blessing at the best of times. On the one hand - pull the lever and the traffic comes (most of the time anyway!). On the other - not only does it cost a good % of your revenue - but the price keeps going up for ads! Now add in a recession - and what should we be doing to grow our Amazon PL businesses?
To discuss this and more, Hai Mag from Eva joins us. With many large PL clients using their service to manage Amazon PPC, they have the inside track on the data! What You’ll Learn
Find out how to increase your profits from 5% to 20%! How to maximize your profit from pricing. Discover the things that improve profit, such as using reimbursements
Resources
Get Your Reimbursement Repricing and Stock Management Free PPC Audit + Account Audit + Market Share Analysis
Amazon Advertising is a mixed blessing at the best of times. On the one hand - pull the lever and the traffic comes (most of the time anyway!). On the other - not only does it cost a good % of your revenue - but the price keeps going up for ads!
Now add in a recession - and what should we be doing to grow our Amazon PL businesses?
To discuss this and more, Hai Mag from Eva joins us. With many large PL clients using their service to manage Amazon PPC, they have the inside track on the data! What You’ll Learn
Understanding a recession and how to leverage it to your advantage! What you should do is build a data-driven strategy with your partners, Hai's two cents on increasing your business The Small and Big Data how does this affect your business? How to find holistic target competitors. What to do with the boutique agencies?
Resources
Get Your Reimbursement Repricing and Stock Management Free PPC Audit + Account Audit + Market Share Analysis
Business loan for ecommerce is the main topic for this episode and Stephen will share his insights and help you increase the size of the business you can possible acquire!
Debt. The word has so many negative connotations and yet - used wisely - it can be a key to making the operations of your ecom business work.
But debt can also to fund the acquisition of a business - or enable your business to be sold using debt. Why would you even consider doing this? And What is the difference between financing for exit vs for operations?
Today's expert guest, Stephen Speer, answers this and more.
Stephen is a 28-year veteran of funding and His lending career spans over 28 years. His company, eCommerce Lending Inc, has funded over $300 million in online business acquisition loans. What You’ll Learn
How to use the “Plug and play angle” that would benefit you from your competition! Stephen shares his thoughts on how he does his deals and how it benefited him (This section has some details you might want to look out!) Do you see yourself as an aggregator or someone that just acquire business, leverage where you stand on both sides!
Freebies
Book a consultation with Stephen Speer at stephen@ecommercelending.com
This week we mix it up and share a special list Michael’s prepared after interviewing over 500 Amazon sellers. It’s a list of 10 powerful business concepts from top Amazon experts. So join us as we share the best of the best. What you’ll learn
10 powerful business concepts from over 500 episodes of the amazingfba podcast.
Links to Amazing FBA Podcast interviews mentioned
The Amazon Jungle with Rick Cesari and Jason Boyce PL cf Wholesale sourcing with Dylan Frost of The Wholesale Formula How to choose products for amazon private label with Kevin king Stephen Somers on Product Research for Amazon (from Marketplace Superheroes) Inventory management ecommerce with Marvin Harris of Ovalz Amazon Fulfilment Problems (and solutions) with Will Tjernlund of Goat Consulting Daisi Jo Pollard Sepulveda on models in product photography Ecommerce Business Processes with Dillon Carter of Vendrive CRM e commerce trends 2021 with Dylan Frost of The Wholesale Formula
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Amazon inventory management doesn’t sound very sexy. Sadly, it’s not just necessary. It's critical. The great news is this: get this right and you can improve everything you care about as an entrepreneur.
It can actually transform your business. Especially its cash flow and profitability. If those aren't sexy words to you yet, they should be! Cash flow keeps you in business. And profit enables you not only to pay yourself. It creates 100% of the value in your business!
Why it's important to get right Amazon inventory management right All systems selling products need to manage inventory well. Certainly, that's especially true for physical products. The sheer sales velocity on Amazon makes inventory management particularly critical on Amazon.
It's a classic case of balance sheet management. You can make the same sales with lower working capital. That's less money invested. You can have stronger cashflow. Meaning it's safer. In addition, you can also make more sales. A LOT more sales. AND more profits!
There are HUGE wins to be got from this. Nailing Amazon seller central inventory management is mission critical. What can go wrong with Amazon inventory management But what happens if you get it wrong? Why does it matter so much?
Well, there are two big potential pitfalls. The first is having overstock inventory [internal link]. The second is having Amazon out of stock [internal link]. Both have serious consequences. Overstock inventory means... If you're overstocked, you'll get a ton of issues.
That's kind of easier to understand than being out of stock but worth listing here.
First of all, you'll end up tying up a lot more cash in inventory than you need. That has many bad effects:
The working capital [kw research then internal link?] needed for a product line shoots up. If you're already importing from abroad, that number may become huge fast . Cash can crater to low levels. You may have to borrow more [do kw research then internal link], increasing your costs as you pay interest It will stop you redeploying that capital to start a new product line It's not an efficient part of your business. That makes your business as a whole less lendable. It makes your business less sellable and less desirable.
Being out of stock. What's badly misunderstood is the danger of being out of stock. The reason is simple. Those losses don't show up in any kind of financial document. Even so, the loss is real. And it's often huge.
Carrying insufficient quantities of inventory on hand [internal link] is worse than it sounds. It can lead to many cash flow issues, including:
Weeks (or months) of zero profit Zero cashflow from those products while out of stock. Giving your competitors sales you could have had Giving your competitors market share which may be hard to regain Losing Amazon keyword ranking which you may not get back Lower growth for your business Lost future value of your business
How to forecast inventory This is not a quick win if you insist on doing this yourself! That's why I spent so long telling you how important it is. You're either going to end spending a few hours a week on it yourself. Or you'll hire someone competent and pay good money. Or you'll use some high-quality software system. There's no short cut. But
That said, it does depend where you are at with your business growth. The size of your business makes a difference. How to restock inventory for Early stage Amazon businesses Early stage businesses with under $3000 a month in sales may need to do manual stock management. In essence, you're deciding
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when to restock inventory into which part of your supply chain
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how much stock to get or move. Factors in inventory organization There are a few important factors in good Amazon inventory management:
inventory organization [int link] and stock tracking how to forecast sales using historical data [internal link]
Debt. The word has so many negative connotations and yet - used wisely - it can be a key to making the operations of your ecommerce business work. But exit financing for ecommerce - aka using debt to sell your business - is a great way to sell your business for more money!
But debt can also to fund the acquisition of a business - or enable your business to be sold using debt. Why would you even consider doing this? And What is the difference between financing for exit vs for operations?
Today's expert guest, Stephen Speer, answers this and more. He specialises in exit financing for ecommerce businesses. Stephen is a 28-year veteran of funding and his lending career spans over 28 years. His company, eCommerce Lending Inc, has funded over $300 million in online business acquisition loans. What You’ll Learn
The definition of exit financing for e-commerce and its value to you The difference between financing for exit vs for operations understanding this can make or break your business! Add value to your business through understanding the importance of maximizing your value when you exit. The reason why you, the seller, should be organizing the finance and not someone else! (Hint: You can leverage your price!) Does the size of your business qualify for this? The Pros and Cons of Exit Financing, find out if this suits you!
Freebies
Book a consultation with Stephen Speer at stephen@ecommercelending.com
This week we mix it up and share a special list Michael’s prepared after interviewing over 500 Amazon sellers. It’s a list of 10 powerful business concepts from top Amazon experts. So join us as we share the best of the best. What you’ll learn
10 powerful business concepts from over 500 episodes of the amazingfba podcast.
Links to Amazing FBA Podcast interviews mentioned
The Amazon Jungle with Rick Cesari and Jason Boyce PL cf Wholesale sourcing with Dylan Frost of The Wholesale Formula How to choose products for amazon private label with Kevin king Stephen Somers on Product Research for Amazon (from Marketplace Superheroes) Inventory management ecommerce with Marvin Harris of Ovalz Amazon Fulfilment Problems (and solutions) with Will Tjernlund of Goat Consulting Daisi Jo Pollard Sepulveda on models in product photography Ecommerce Business Processes with Dillon Carter of Vendrive CRM e commerce trends 2021 with Dylan Frost of The Wholesale Formula
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Amazon repricing is the act of changing the sales prices of Amazon products multiple times. A common aim is to maximise the profit made over a given period. And that's what this series is all about: maximising your profits on Amazon. Amazon repricing - why this matters
Most sellers - the vast majority in my experience - have rigid Amazon pricing.
Here are some knock-on effects:
Effects of Pricing too low on Amazon 1. You'll run out of stock more quickly...Usually of your best-selling products! 2. Weeks (months?)of zero cashflow and Zero profit while out of stock. 3. leaving profit on the table 4. no presence on Amazon while out of stock
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Handing market share and sales to competitors
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it can be hard to rank again when back in stock Effects of pricing too high on Amazon
- Low sales velocity - which ties up a ton of cash.
- Lower ranking, which can be hard to regain. Which in turn leads to lower visibility...and lower sales
- You can lose the buy box – and sales - to your competition! (and YES - that IS a thing for PL sellers, not just resellers)
- Slow-moving stock in FBA incurs inbound stock limits. That’s a peak season nightmare! Selling more units is the hardest way to drive more profits. Small pricing changes can drive BIG profits.
The power of Amazon repricing to drive profits
Say your product sells at $20 for a $4 profit. Increase the sales price by just 10% to $22, (assuming costs stay the same), and you get an extra $2 profit. That's a FIFTY % increase in profits - for just a TEN % increase in price!
This applies across all categories: Health or supplements; home & kitchen; sports and outdoors, pet care... you name it. The 3 main Amazon repricing options
Repricing Option 1: manual repricing One mastermind member employed a full-time member of staff to do their repricing. Granted, they had over 2000 product lines. This is nonetheless an expensive, difficult way of doing things!
Apart from the expense, it means you can only practically reprice products once a week with a large catalogue (say over 1000 SKUs) at most. With a small catalogue, say 10-100 SKUs, there is still a practical limit of daily adjustments.
Humans also have a bad habit of changing prices abruptly in substantial amounts. To be fair to humans, this is partly because of the low frequency of changes, meaning they need to be bigger when they happen.
But it's very unwise. Amazon's algorithm can remove the buy box from even private label sellers, for repeated movements of over 1-2% of the price. For most products around the $20 price mark, that means movements of even 25-50 cents could trigger problems. (Oh and losing the buy box means losing 80% of sales - not good!)
Repricing Option 2: using a Rules-based repricer
Manual repricing is impractical so it has to be (90%) automated.
For resellers (RA, wholesale etc) the traditional solution has been a rules-based automated system. But that's primitive - often winning sales but losing profits! Also, it just doesn’t account for your stock level!
Why obsess over winning the buy box when going out of stock is usually the single biggest hit to your profits?
What you need is a system that integrates repricing and stock levels. That understands the dynamics of Amazon and changes actions based on results.
Repricing Option 3: Intelligent repricers Intelligent repricing for private label gives you the biggest and quickest extra profits.
That breaks down into two parts: 1. repricing: this means adjusting product prices daily, in tiny steps. So it won’t annoy Amazon or customers - or start price wars with competitors.
- “Intelligent” means NOT rules-based; It learns from experience. If you set a certain profit aim, it will adjust over time, to get that profit. Costs for such systems are also less than 1/10 the cost of hiring people to do this job.
So many Amazon business owners these days are very focused on selling the business.
And rightly so. With values of over $1 Million for a business that could be just 3-4 years old, and with 60%+ of ALL the money you EVER make from your business coming at exit, it makes total sense!
But what happens if you're successful? Like the dog that caught the car, you need to know what to do if you actually achieve the dream? What do people actually do with their lives and money?
Well, Ben Leonard sold a private label Amazon-focused business for 7 figures within just 3 years of starting. He shares with us some of his experiences of life after Exit. What You’ll Learn
What Ben did after selling his business - inspired by the book “Hero on a Mission” by Donald Miller How the book influenced Ben to exit and sell his business. After the exit sell, Ben invested on other ventures with his money. The importance of talking with an expert when selling your business.
Freebies
Get your free consultation with Ben Leonard Find out more abouts Ecom Brokers
In this week’s video Kyle and I behind the scenes as we discuss a rebranding project we did for our Shopify project, www.thehappygardeninglife.com
We describe the project, how we got it built in less than two weeks, how we migrated it over to the new name and URL and the WHY behind the site structure and style.
"In the mundane act of naming a price, we translate the desires of our hearts into the public language of numbers. That turns out to be a surprisingly tricky process." William Poundstone Why Pricing Strategy Matters in e-commerce So let's talk about this. First of all, why does this even matter? More than ever, e-commerce entrepreneurs have had crazy rises in costs. Whether it's shipping or raw material costs, they have shot up. Amazon ads costs have also gone up across the board. At least 50% year-on-year increase in Amazon ad costs.
Focussing on Amazon pricing and how it drives profits, the maths is pretty simple. Let's come back to more mundane math that we can all grasp, but overlook, which is this:
If you have a $20 product, which has say a 20% profit margin, that means if you're good at math, you are making $4 in profits.
Let's say you increase the price by 10%. Let's say also you can maintain that price and keep your other costs the same.
Well, guess what? Your profit has increased from four to $6. Yes, that isn't a dramatic amount in absolute terms. But, it's a 50% increase in profit for a mere 10% increase in price.
Can I just increase my price on Amazon?
Now, can you just increase your price by 10%? Well, that's an interesting question. Isn't it?
In some cases, the answer is - yes, more than you might think! In those cases, this maths has got huge power. It goes straight to your gross profit line. Not only is it not abstract, but it's not a casual matter. This drives huge amounts of profit if you get it right. That's why it's a subject worthy of serious consideration. And of intense action. Price Sensitivity - a key part of Amazon Pricing Strategy (it's not always what you think!) So one concept I want to talk about is price sensitivity. We all as sellers tend to assume that all products are very price-sensitive on Amazon. At least most people I've ever worked with or spoken with. Back in the day myself, I've done that as well.But in the 10 K collective mastermind, we've found a different reality on the ground.
3 product categories of price sensitivity Learning how price sensitive your products are is a critical piece of your Amazon pricing strategy. But it's a bit more subtle than that. From the mastermind, it seems that three categories have emerged of price sensitivity on Amazon.
1. Price-sensitive products First of all, some products are indeed quite price sensitive. So if you raise your price and the competitors keep theirs, then you find that the sales drop off. And if you raise your price a lot, they drop off a great deal.
Sometimes it's caused by the competitors lowering their prices. Sometimes that kicks off a price war. Of course, we're all incredibly familiar with that. However, there are new forces coming into play now. Sometimes you and the competition might keep prices the same but still see price sensitivity. Consumers become more price-sensitive because they feel under financial pressure. That's a very strong trend and set to continue.
For the foreseeable future in mid-2022, they will be feeling the effects of inflation. Who knows what comes next? We already have inflation. A recession may well be to come, probably with rising unemployment to follow. All of these reduce consumers' purchasing power.
So with all that at play, that sounds like the mundane boring and rather depressing reality of the normal price sensitivity.
2. Price insensitive products However, some of the more savvy members of the mastermind have discovered some products are quite price insensitive. That is to say, you can raise the price quite a significant amount before demand drops. That's a dramatically powerful discovery! And thus a key part of Amazon pricing strategy.
So you raise your price by 10% and you maybe increase your profits anywhere, depending on your profit margin From 30% to 50 per cent or more...
So many Amazon business owners these days are very focused on selling the business.
And rightly so. With values of over $1 Million for a business that could be just 3-4 years old, and with 60%+ of ALL the money you EVER make from your business coming at exit, it makes total sense!
But what happens if you're successful? Like the dog that caught the car, you need to know what to do if you actually achieve the dream? What do people actually do with their lives and money?
Well, Ben Leonard sold a private label Amazon-focused business for 7 figures within just 3 years of starting. He shares with us some of his experiences of life after Exit. What You’ll Learn
A brief overview of Ben and his background How Ben started his journey on Ecommerce The reason for selling the brand - a methodical approach from Ben Timing is crucial when selling a brand based on Ben's Experience The process of selling your business The drawbacks of actually selling your business
Freebies
Get your free consultation with Ben Leonard Find out more abouts Ecom Brokers
“Private Label” has been a buzzword in e-commerce for several years. But what does it mean for Amazon sellers in 2022? Well, private label product development is a key part of the picture.
So, how do we beat the competition? And stay ahead of them too? On Amazon, one question stands out. How do we make our products different from the competition? Simply this: the key is never to compete only on price. Get this wrong and at most, you’ll make empty sales. Sadly, that usually means no profits and probably a loss.
Get this right and you have a chance to make sustainable profits. Amazon private label product development is the key to success. Without a differentiated product, marketing has no chance. With one, it has a flying start. Then marketing's job is to explain those differences clearly.
In this 3rd episode on this topic, we dive further into Michael’s principles for product development. What you’ll learn
Why talking to users while developing your product is critical Why scaling issues should NOT be your focus at the start of a new project, business or product The multiple upsides of quick iterations Why low MOQ beats capacity to scale when sourcing Why mentality matters and how it changes everything else What iterating is and why it’s so critical How “failing fast” is the fastest way to finding what works
Related pages
12 Principles of Product Development Part 1 12 Principles of Product Development Part 2
Resources Mentioned
Kickstarter – crowdfunding site for startups/new products Ycombinator – co-founded by Paul Graham (company motto: “Make something people want”) The Corridor Principle – Robert Ronstadt
E-commerce and Business Books Mentioned
Tom Peters: In search of Excellence – (UK Amazon) Jim Collins: Great by Choice – (UK Amazon) Steve Anderson: The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon – (UK Amazon link)
Maximising your Amazon Profits Profit Maximisation on Amazon has always been a nice to have. In the current tough economic times, it’s become a must-have. Is it the 1970s again? In the current climate of global economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever for ecommerce businesses to focus on profit maximisation. With inflation on the rise in both the UK and the US, and recent reports of strikes and walkouts in both countries, the need to maximize profits has never been more apparent. Here are some of the 1970s resonances:
Oil price shocks due to war UK, esp US Inflation edging into double digits (currently 9+% annually in UK) Strikes:
nationwide train strikes in UK (biggest since 1989) (
RMT union members voted to strike after their demand for a 7% pay rise was rejected in favour of a 3% offer)
London Tube (Underground aka subway) multiple strikes staff at British Airways voted for a walkout again over pay
USA: Strikes by Southwest Airlines pilots
Why does profit maximisation matter? While it is important to increase revenue, this should not be done at the expense of profit. In fact, in difficult economic times it is even more important to focus on profit maximization.
This is because profit is the best source of cash flow, and cash flow is the most important factor for business survival. Businesses without profits have little to no value. This is because profits are essential for businesses to grow and be successful. Finally, businesses without profits mean you can't pay yourself!
How to increase your Amazon profits There are a number of ways to maximize profits, but one of the most important is pricing. Pricing matters pricing is a key factor in ensuring that your product is profitable. It is also important to understand how branding can impact your conversion rate and the price you can charge for your product. Business Model Another important factor to consider is the private label/custom business model. This is a model where businesses create their own products and sell them under their own brand. This can be a great way to maximize profits, but it is important to understand the limitations of this model. Clear financial numbers The best way to maximize profits is to have a clear understanding of your financial numbers and to make informed decisions about your business. A mastermind or community can help you understand the reality of your business and your colleagues' businesses. There are quite a few things that need to be considered when selling a business, even for advanced sellers.
Profit maximization is important, especially in uncertain times. Running a lean ship is key to maximizing profits. The Amazon Profit Killer Quiz can help you determine which factors are causing the biggest loss of profits in your business. Solutions to these problems will also be provided.
If you want to learn more about how to be successful in the digital ecommerce marketplace, tune in to the next episode of the 10K Collective Podcast What’s coming up in this mini series on Profit Maximisation - Make the most revenue per unit - pricing and re pricing
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Stay in stock - Stock control
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See things coming, double down on what works, stop things that don’t - Profit/numbers clarity
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Save wasted money, get ROI - Amazon ads
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Get more sales per 100 visitors, & better price: Branding
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Get YOUR cash out of Amazon - Reimbursement
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Understand how you make profit, what you’re doing: Business models
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Understanding what the PL biz model can and can’t do for you: Private label model clarity Diagnose Your Own Biggest Amazon Profit Killer Take our precision engineered assessment especially for 6-, 7- and 8-figure Amazon sellers to find out your own biggest Amazon Profit Killer - and what to do about it:
www.amazonprofitquiz.com
Most Amazon sellers spend 95% of their time ranking their products on Amazon itself. Of course that’s a very very important thing to get right. But what if you could drive external traffic to your listing on Amazon? You could obliterate the competition - and they wouldn’t even know why!
Of course, many sellers try highly involved things including social media influencers. And yes - although it’s a lot of work, done right it can give a big surge in traffic. The tragedy of this though is that the traffic may be impressive - but it’s a one-off. It’s a one-time traffic solution to an ongoing traffic problem. In other words, that isn’t really much of a solution to boosting your Amazon ranking.
Instead, today Farzad Rashidi of Respona tells us simple but very powerful techniques to find exactly who to approach who can give you ongoing traffic. Traffic that can give you consistently increased sales, and boost your rankings each and every month. It turns out that it’s all much simpler than you might think! What You’ll Learn
The simple ways to get Affiliate traffic for your Amazon Products How does everyone win when using on the Amazon A simple way to ID affiliates “listicle strategy” How to persuade bloggers to link to your DTC in order to get sales The Problem with Social media influencers are one-offs The Hidden Gem for Bloggers
Freebies
Get your free Respona outreach strategy hub at www.amazingfba.com/respona Free demo with Farzad himself
“Private Label” has been a buzzword in ecommerce for several years. But what does it mean for Amazon sellers in particular (and ecommerce operators more broadly) in 2021?
How do we gain a real, sustainable competitive advantage? On Amazon, one question is paramount: How do we make our products different enough from the competition not be just shopped on Price? Get this wrong and at most you’ll make empty sales, with no profits and probably a loss. Get this right and you have a chance to make sustainable profits.
In this 2nd of 3 episodes on this topic, we dive into Michael’s principles 5 through 9 of 12 to answer these questions. What you’ll learn
What your “P & P” is and why it’s critical to differentiating your product Why talking to people matters so much…and why you DON’T talk about products initially Jason’s “12 Days of Christmas” campaign….and how it gave them massive insight into their customers’ buying patterns What “search intent” is and why it matters so much Why keyword research alone will never be enough to create differentiated products Why sourcing needs to be part of market selection Why local sourcing (worldwide) can be a super smart sourcing strategy
Resources Mentioned
www.Ruralhandmade.com – run by Konark Ogra www.Futurestatemedia.com – by Ashley Pearce 10K Collective Mastermind – run by Michael Avenue7media – Amazon Agency run by Jason Boyce
E-commerce and Business Books Mentioned
Ash Maurya: Running Lean (includes a chapter on the “Problem interview”) – (UK Amazon link) Richard Koch: The Star Principle – (UK Amazon Link)
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Amazon sellers obsess about how to get their own ecommerce site. There are excellent reasons why you’d want your own DTC (direct to consumer site) Amazon IS a nightmare at times. With Amazon Account Suspension, listing suspension and intellectual property violations all significant risks, it’s a wise move for risk diversification. And with Amazon ads costs going up all the time, it seems like it might even make financial sense.
However. once you're off Amazon you're confronted with another challenge: How on earth do I get quality traffic to my site? And how do I get enough of it to make a real business? So many Amazon sellers have a Shopify or woocommerce site that does almost nothing. Others pay so much for traffic in paid ads that they can't make a profit.
Most serious DTC owners know that SEO has to be the backbone of traffic. But how do we actually go about SEO in a way that works? Today we talk with Farzad Rashidi of Respona on exactly how to get that precious Google organic traffic in a way that’s doable for busy entrepreneurs. What You’ll Learn
Find out what's the buzz all about with Respona The backstory of Farzad and how marketing paved way with Respona The value of Paid Ads Understanding the ins and out of Cold Out Reach Maximizing value with Cold Outreach
Freebies
Get your free "Recipe Book" for Outreach Traffic Tactics at www.amazingfba.com/backlink
“Private Label” has been a buzzword in ecommerce for several years. But what does it mean for Amazon sellers in particular (and ecommerce operators more broadly) in 2021? And how do we go about choosing the right market for our products? And developing products that serve that market?
Michael has been deep-diving into this question with his clients for almost 5 years at this point. But recent changes in the last couple of years mean a need for a deeper set of principles for private label for the 3rd decade of the 21st century. Today, we define what we mean by a “private label product”, and cover the first 4 principles for developing one in 2021 and beyond. What you’ll learn
What modern Amazon sellers mean by “private label” Why “different is better than better” (Rick Cesari) What you must do…or loss money Why you must skate where the puck is going Why getting into a trend early is easier than going into an established market Why you must pick a fight you can win on Amazon!
Resources Mentioned
Pixiefaire – Jason and Cinnamon’s dolls clothes patterns marketplace 10K Collective Mastermind – run by Michael
E-commerce and Business Books Mentioned
Jason Miles: Instagram Power – (UK Amazon Link) Rick Cesari and Jason Boyce: The Amazon Jungle – (UK Amazon Link) Dan Olsen: The Lean Product Playbook – (UK Amazon Link) Ash Ali: Your Unfair Advantage
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
We spend so much time as Amazon sellers stressing about how to get OFF Amazon. No wonder. Between Amazon's iron grip on customer data, the fact they showcase our competition to "our" shoppers/prospective customers and of course...the dreaded suspension email... we all have solid aspirations to develop our own independent sales channels.
The reality however is often a damp squib. So many Amazon sellers I know have a Shopify or woocommerce site that does almost nothing. A few I know make a few % of revenue from their DTC site - but with almost no profit! So how do we make this work in reality?
Well one thing is to make use of all the incredible hard work we’ve already done on product research, design, development and supplier sourcing. Supply chains are hard things to make work at the best of times - especially these days! But if you’ve already done that work, leveraging your existing catalogue onto your own Direct to Consumer (DTC) site turns out to be surprisingly doable. Listen to Robert, ecommerce veteran of over two decades, as he talks through how to make this work successfully. What You’ll Learn
How to start with a business case and work backwards to an excel sheet to utilize your product Catalogue inventory Different methods when it comes to tracking your product inventory The advantages of having a DTC Platform when it comes to serving it as your order and stock management system
The Welcome Email Series is a powerful way to automate email marketing. In this video we discuss 4 elements that need to be in your email welcome series.
We spend so much time as Amazon sellers stressing about how to get OFF Amazon. No wonder. Between Amazon's iron grip on customer data, the fact they showcase our competition to "our" shoppers/prospective customers and of course...the dreaded suspension email... we all have solid aspirations to develop our own independent sales channels.
The reality however is often a damp squib. So many Amazon sellers I know have a Shopify or woocommerce site that does almost nothing. A few I know make a few % of revenue from their DTC site - but with almost no profit! So how do we make this work in reality?
Well one thing is to make use of all the incredible hard work we’ve already done on product research, design, development and supplier sourcing. Supply chains are hard things to make work at the best of times - especially these days! But if you’ve already done that work, leveraging your existing catalogue onto your own Direct to Consumer (DTC) site turns out to be surprisingly doable. Listen to Robert, ecommerce veteran of over two decades, as he talks through how to make this work successfully. What You’ll Learn
How to start with a business case and work backwards to an excel sheet to utilize your product Catalogue inventory Different methods when it comes to tracking your product inventory The advantages of having a DTC Platform when it comes to serving it as your order and stock management system
We spend so much time as Amazon sellers stressing about how to get OFF Amazon. No wonder. Between Amazon's iron grip on customer data, the fact they showcase our competition to "our" shoppers/prospective customers and of course...the dreaded suspension email.
We all have solid aspirations to develop our own independent sales channels. The reality however is often a damp squib. So many Amazon sellers I know have a Shopify or WooCommerce site that does almost nothing.
A few I know make a few % of revenue from their DTC site - but with almost no profit! So how do we make this work in reality? Step forward today's guest, Robert Giovannini of Ironplane. What You’ll Learn
How a trip in Russia opened the gates for Robert to start his DTC journey When should you decide to start your DTC, is it the right time to put DTC in the mix? Working out a relationship between selling on Amazon and on a DTC site to maximize your profit. The benefits of using a DTC site over Amazon The classics mistakes newbies make on DTC When to change your platform and should you maximize everything or getting a gradual increase overtime What to expect when you're changing from one platform to another
Jason’s new ebook – The 9 Mountains Of Traffic – launched today and we’re excited to share it with you. It reveals a framework we’ve been using with our coaching clients and mastermind group members for the last several years.
Alexis Lanternier is the Chief Operating Officer at BRANDED.
BRANDED is building the next-generation consumer products company that transforms online businesses into massive global brands. Since the founding in late 2020, they've built a portfolio of over 30 amazing brands and have quickly become a Top 20 Seller on Amazon.
Fueled by proprietary tech and the international operational expertise of leaders from Lazada, Amazon, Alibaba, P&G, Mars, L'Oréal, SoftBank, and Goldman Sachs - BRANDED is the ideal partner to accelerate your brand's global growth. What You’ll Learn
Alexis' background and how he manages his brands. The value of Amazon SEO and how does it benefit your business The Pros and Cons for Amazon SEO Using valuable keywords to maximize your PPC Alex explains when you should sunset a product and how will this benefit you Learning the importance of contribution margin and why you should use it.
Patrick O'Connell is the Chief Strategy Officer at BRANDED.
BRANDED is building the next-generation consumer products company that transforms online businesses into massive global brands. Since the founding in late 2020, they've built a portfolio of over 30 amazing brands and have quickly become a Top 20 Seller on Amazon.
Fueled by proprietary tech and the international operational expertise of leaders from Lazada, Amazon, Alibaba, P&G, Mars, L'Oréal, SoftBank, and Goldman Sachs - BRANDED is the ideal partner to accelerate your brand's global growth. What You’ll Learn
Understanding the evolution of the market : The importance of Moving from Closed to Open Retail System The Pros and Cons of the Open Retail System How to Scale Using the Open Retail System The importance of Challenger Brands and to why serving "super specific customer" is beneficial to your business. How to create a create a genuine “challenger” brand that would maximize your potential earnings! The Nature of Amazon SEO, how it works and how does it benefit your business
The value of brand analyzing and how you match up against your competion
Adam Wright, is a long-time sufferer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and wanted to ensure he received all the essential nutrients to help him combat daily fatigue and brain fog.
The search for the ultimate greens blend ended up with him creating his own formula alongside one of the top USA Nutritional manufacturers.
A competitive Triathlete when he was younger, Adam became ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and still suffers the symptoms today.
Although not able to compete in long-distance running and triathlons anymore, Adam spent years studying sport physiology and nutrition at Brighton University under prominent physiologists and coaches of the day.
Disillusioned with many supplement brands available today, he decided to create his own brand that he takes every day to support his health and well-being.
What you’ll learn
What about email marketing? Email capture on blog Email marketing has actually been on the brand Klaviyo best tool he’s used! Email camp’s 30% of woocommerce Promotion - Adam is not really a sales person Personal branding future proofs more than generic brand
For the super greens for US customers
Super Green Tonik Code : Amazing FBA - 15%
Consultancy for those considering selling supplements
AmazingFba/AdamWright
Adam Wright, is a long-time sufferer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and wanted to ensure he received all the essential nutrients to help him combat daily fatigue and brain fog.
The search for the ultimate greens blend ended up with him creating his own formula alongside one of the top USA Nutritional manufacturers.
A competitive Triathlete when he was younger, Adam became ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and still suffers the symptoms today.
Although not able to compete in long-distance running and triathlons anymore, Adam spent years studying sport physiology and nutrition at Brighton University under prominent physiologists and coaches of the day.
Disillusioned with many supplement brands available today, he decided to create his own brand that he takes every day to support his health and well-being.
What you’ll learn
3 traffic Strategies was going to be simple at start Affiliate Programs Blog content CTR and EPC Sales split?
For the super greens for US customers
Super Green Tonik Code : Amazing FBA - 15%
Consultancy for those considering selling supplements
AmazingFba/AdamWright
Adam Wright, is a long-time sufferer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and wanted to ensure he received all the essential nutrients to help him combat daily fatigue and brain fog.
The search for the ultimate greens blend ended up with him creating his own formula alongside one of the top USA Nutritional manufacturers.
A competitive Triathlete when he was younger, Adam became ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and still suffers the symptoms today.
Although not able to compete in long-distance running and triathlons anymore, Adam spent years studying sport physiology and nutrition at Brighton University under prominent physiologists and coaches of the day.
Disillusioned with many supplement brands available today, he decided to create his own brand that he takes every day to support his health and well-being.
What you’ll learn
Cashcow blog articles? Is that across multiple articles? Or is that within each article ? SEO Keyword Research Outsource writing? Product development alongside blogging 3 Phases of Blogging Outsourcing content In 2021 slowed down blogging Blogging now
For the super greens for US customers
Super Green Tonik Code : Amazing FBA - 15%
Consultancy for those considering selling supplements
AmazingFba/AdamWright
Adam Wright, is a long-time sufferer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and wanted to ensure he received all the essential nutrients to help him combat daily fatigue and brain fog.
The search for the ultimate greens blend ended up with him creating his own formula alongside one of the top USA Nutritional manufacturers.
A competitive Triathlete when he was younger, Adam became ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and still suffers the symptoms today.
Although not able to compete in long-distance running and triathlons anymore, Adam spent years studying sport physiology and nutrition at Brighton University under prominent physiologists and coaches of the day.
Disillusioned with many supplement brands available today, he decided to create his own brand that he takes every day to support his health and well-being.
What you’ll learn
Why start DTC not Amazon? What platform and why?
Woocommerce Shopify
How easy would it be to set up? Traffic - Part 1 How did you get traffic? How to reverse engineer your journey
For the super greens for US customers
Super Green Tonik Code : Amazing FBA - 15%
Consultancy for those considering selling supplements
AmazingFba/AdamWright
The longer a customer camps on your website and/or product listing, the more likely they are to buy the product. In this episode we explore ways to get your time-on-site increased, so you’ve got a better shot at making the sale. What you’ll learn
10 Tips For Increasing Your Time On Site Why time on site and e-commerce conversion rate are tightly correlated. A recap of the conversion rate possibilities Frontier framework.
Most people think stories and storytelling are just for entertainment.
However, this is a misconception. Stories contain data built in a pattern that repeats itself in every human's daily experience. This pattern is known as "The Hero's Journey."
For instance, some days you're storming the castle, and some days you're chained up in the dungeon. Either way, we are all heroes on our journey, experiencing the same pattern in our own lives. This shared experience is why "The Hero's Journey" resonates with everyone across cultures, religions, ages, and sexes. We all live in it, and we all know it.
When you combine the knowledge of a familiar pattern with what current neuroscience is telling us, you begin to realize a few things.
The brain is very similar to a computer. Because the brain is similar to a computer, it has an OS Since there's an OS, there are also apps and firewalls. If there are apps, then there's a way to code applications.
So, storytelling and "The Heroes Journey" become more than a way to entertain people. It also becomes the key to how you code applications on the customer's mind. When you connect the dots, it gives you a way to hack humans.
At Storify, Seth believes any startup can learn how to tell better stories. His startups know how to communicate better, make their value crystal clear to the marketplace, and outpace the competition. What you’ll learn
What is the interaction between photos and words on a PDP? How do we even start with trying to tell stories on a DTC ecommerce site? Identify the need/the problem your product solves. Customer hero of story How do we turn that into a story? Hero’s Journey How to hack humans - storytelling for startups
What services do you offer? Find out more on their website and get the 1st chapter of book, Neuroscience Prime, for free! www.storifyagency.com/amazing
Most people think stories and storytelling are just for entertainment.
However, this is a misconception. Stories contain data built in a pattern that repeats itself in every human's daily experience. This pattern is known as "The Hero's Journey."
For instance, some days you're storming the castle, and some days you're chained up in the dungeon. Either way, we are all heroes on our journey, experiencing the same pattern in our own lives. This shared experience is why "The Hero's Journey" resonates with everyone across cultures, religions, ages, and sexes. We all live in it, and we all know it.
When you combine the knowledge of a familiar pattern with what current neuroscience is telling us, you begin to realize a few things.
The brain is very similar to a computer. Because the brain is similar to a computer, it has an OS Since there's an OS, there are also apps and firewalls. If there are apps, then there's a way to code applications.
So, storytelling and "The Heroes Journey" become more than a way to entertain people. It also becomes the key to how you code applications on the customer's mind. When you connect the dots, it gives you a way to hack humans.
At Storify, Seth believes any startup can learn how to tell better stories. His startups know how to communicate better, make their value crystal clear to the marketplace, and outpace the competition. What you’ll learn
What is storytelling? The difference between marketing and storytelling Neuroscience of storytelling Brain scans Simulation How important as people in stories? The significant objects project How does emotion play into storytelling? How do use the power of emotion without becoming monsters?!
New e-commerce sellers always tell me they want more traffic to their website, and when I ask why – they say “I need more sales”. In this episode we’ll talk about how your returning customer rate directly impacts your conversion rate – 8 ways to improve your returning customer rate. What you’ll learn
9 Tips For Increasing Your Returning Customer Rate Why returning customer rate and e-commerce conversion rate are tightly correlated. A recap of the conversion rate possibilities Frontier framework. Why just 2 of our ways are advertising based strategies – and the others are free and/or more organic.
AnyBiz is a super smart marketing tool that brings the right people, information, and tools together to grow. AnyBiz connects businesses, and drive collaboration forward.
AnyBiz - Find and reach potential customers using cold email campaigns. B2B sales prospecting and outreach, made simple.
Reaching potential customer is fast and super easy. Everything in one place. Database + Cold email campaign.
A one-stop-shop to reach potential customers. Everything is in one place. Simple dashboard. Great results.
In this episode you'll learn:
Wholesale pricing “They always prefer the cheapest” - is this true? How do we get an ROI? What metric would you use to assess a deal? Talking about minimum order Risk reduction
AnyBiz is a super smart marketing tool that brings the right people, information, and tools together to grow. AnyBiz connects businesses, and drive collaboration forward.
Reaching potential customer is fast and super easy. Everything in one place. Database + Cold email campaign.
A one-stop-shop to reach potential customers. Everything is in one place. Simple dashboard. Great results.
Daniel is the co founder of Anybiz , Talor is a collaborator and expert in getting into B2B sales
In this episode you'll learn:
Juicy outcomes of B2B Problems with B2C Valuing the Economic Benefits Understanding your Brand Recognition Find prospect companies How to choose businesses What do we say in the email?
The key is sending to the right person Show that you understand their language and expectation Clean and clear and short No attachments
How do fine tune the targeting of the person? Finding the right buyer in a big chain Should you target big or smaller companies?
New e-commerce sellers always tell me they want more traffic to their website, and when I ask why – they say “I need more sales”. In this episode we’ll talk about how your returning customer rate directly impacts your conversion rate – 8 ways to improve your returning customer rate. What you’ll learn
9 Tips For Increasing Your Returning Customer Rate Why returning customer rate and e-commerce conversion rate are tightly correlated. A recap of the conversion rate possibilities Frontier framework. Why just 2 of our ways are advertising based strategies – and the others are free and/or more organic.
Petru Iacob is the founder of Audiencer.io, helps FB advertisers inc ecommerce advertisers find cold audiences What you’ll learn
Understanding FB ads for DTC Categories that work well on FB Factors of Success How to combine DTC/Amazon? Budgeting Retargeting List Package a QR code - leave email for coupon etc. Lookalike audience effectiveness cf interest based? How about the Ezra Firestone idea of 3 pillars - cold audience and then retargting How would you combine email followup with retargeting? Why Choose Audiencer
Resources
https://amazingfba.com/audiencer www.amazingfba.com/fbads
Petru Iacob is the founder of Audiencer.io, helps FB advertisers inc ecommerce advertisers find cold audiences What you’ll learn
Why choose Facebook? Solving the Attribution Issue Problems on Amazon vs Solutions from other Platforms Why use Shopify Best Ways on Doing Things Calculating the Numbers Two Types of Launches CAT Framework
Jeff Bezos is famously stepping down as CEO and handing off the CEO position to Andy Jassy. This is the first time the CEO has changed at Amazon since its creation in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. Especially in the light of the crazy upswing in 2020 ecommerce demand, this feels like a natural moment to reflect on Jeff Bezos’s legacy and where Andy Jassy is likely to take amazon. In this 2-part episode we explore how this change might impact Amazon 3rd Party sellers. What you’ll learn
Jeff Bezos’ historical wins and accomplishments Hi less successful ventures What Andy Jassy should keep, start, and stop (in our opinion).
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Savvy DTC eCommerce store owners have known for years that Pinterest is their secret traffic source. Increasingly Amazon sellers are realising that it’s not just DTC store owners- whether Shopify, woocommerce or magento - that can benefit hugely from Pinterest. But is it just another social media channel? Or does it work in more specific ways?
Our guest for this podcast, agency owner Craig Lewis, focuses only on Pinterest and is laser targetted on Pinterest for eCommerce in particular. That means that he and his team have a ton of relevant data from which to draw conclusions. Craig shares with ecommerce and Amazon sellers the 10 biggest mistakes he sees ecommerce operators and Amazon sellers make with pinterest - and what to do instead! What you’ll learn
A Brief Overview of Craig Lewis and his role in Pin and Grow 10 Mistakes Seller Make In Pinterest
Using it like a social platform and looking for likes and comments Irrelevant boards trying to beat the algo! No call to action on the images
What Services Does Craig and his team offers
Savvy DTC eCommerce store owners have known for years that Pinterest is their secret traffic source. Increasingly Amazon sellers are realising that it’s not just DTC store owners- whether Shopify, woocommerce or magento - that can benefit hugely from Pinterest. But is it just another social media channel? Or does it work in more specific ways?
Our guest for this podcast, agency owner Craig Lewis, focuses only on Pinterest and is laser targetted on Pinterest for eCommerce in particular. That means that he and his team have a ton of relevant data from which to draw conclusions. Craig shares with ecommerce and Amazon sellers the 10 biggest mistakes he sees ecommerce operators and Amazon sellers make with pinterest - and what to do instead! What you’ll learn
A Brief Overview of Craig Lewis and his role in Pin and Grow 10 Mistakes Seller Make In Pinterest
Using it like a social platform and looking for likes and comments Irrelevant boards trying to beat the algo! No call to action on the images
What Services Does Craig and his team offers
Jeff Bezos is famously stepping down as CEO and handing off the CEO position to Andy Jassy. This is the first time the CEO has changed at Amazon since its creation in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. Especially in the light of the crazy upswing in 2020 ecommerce demand, this feels like a natural moment to reflect on Jeff Bezos’s legacy and where Andy Jassy is likely to take amazon. In this 2-part episode we explore how this change might impact Amazon 3rd Party sellers. What you’ll learn
Jeff Bezos’ historical wins and accomplishments Hi less successful ventures What Andy Jassy should keep, start, and stop (in our opinion).
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
A dynamic leader with a no-nonsense approach, Brett is an experienced, energetic and creative executive as well as a self-contributor for both startups and established corporations. Currently, Brett is the CEO of Successful Media where he leads partnership development, operations and strategy.
Brett spent 4 years as the COO of WorkBook6, a leading partnership agency serving Fortune 5000 brands. Prior to WorkBook6, Brett consulted with a number of companies (NotVodka Water, WynZyn, MediaPro Services and many more).
He also oversaw marketing and acquisition at Goji, a large national insurance agency. Before that he led mobile marketing globally for an international search publisher with revenues in excess of $100MM, and was principally involved in the explosive growth of that the company’s mobile marketing business. Before his career in lead gen, Brett ran online marketing and eCommerce for a number of tech startups in San Francisco.
Listen to today’s podcast to find out what these errors are - and how to avoid them. What you’ll learn
Recap of the “5 part full proof framework” How do we do this for a warm email list? How do you justify all this work on your emails Make your emails your primary focus Email Deliverability and Engagement Surveying the Email List Services Well Spring Media Offers
Resources mentioned
Well Spring Media
A dynamic leader with a no-nonsense approach, Brett is an experienced, energetic and creative executive as well as a self-contributor for both startups and established corporations. Currently, Brett is the CEO of Successful Media where he leads partnership development, operations and strategy.
Brett spent 4 years as the COO of WorkBook6, a leading partnership agency serving Fortune 5000 brands. Prior to WorkBook6, Brett consulted with a number of companies (NotVodka Water, WynZyn, MediaPro Services and many more).
He also oversaw marketing and acquisition at Goji, a large national insurance agency. Before that he led mobile marketing globally for an international search publisher with revenues in excess of $100MM, and was principally involved in the explosive growth of that the company’s mobile marketing business. Before his career in lead gen, Brett ran online marketing and eCommerce for a number of tech startups in San Francisco.
Listen to today’s podcast to find out what these errors are - and how to avoid them. What you’ll learn
List building and high-converting landing page An Overview of Brett Kaufman Images vs Emails Why bother with email if you’re an Amazon seller? 5-part framework when Capturing Emails How to build a list Classic mistakes Contact anyone who’s ever bought from you, and ask them why 3 types of marketing - cold outreach, Word Of Mouth and warm outreach
Resources mentioned
Well Spring Media
There has probably never been a better time to sell a quality Private label or customer product business. The meteoric rise of Amazon aggregators since about 2020 has meant a jump in the competition for buyers of Amazon-based businesses. What does this mean? Well, an Amazon business with the same exact profit might be worth twice now what is was worth 2 years ago. However, this buying frenzy can lead to private label business owners making a series of mistakes when it comes to selling their businesses.
In the normal course of M & A (mergers and acquisitions), both the seller and buyer of the business understand the process.
But in the e-commerce space, private label business owners with no understanding of mergers often sit across from educated buyers with Stanford business degrees. There is a knowledge gap that is potentially dangerous for the business owners.
An unwise business seller can end up exaggerating that danger to themselves. That could show up in relation to the business itself, commonly in dodgy financial data, exaggerated revenue claims, faking reviews or black hat operating tactics. It could also be around the deal itself. Taking renegotiation personally, allowing a deal structure that is not right for you or allowing the buyers to force exclusivity on you are some classic errors.
Listen to today’s podcast to find out what these errors are - and how to avoid them. What you’ll learn
Be clear and understand it’s all about the buyer getting the best possible deal - it’s business! Lowball offers after Due diligence checking LOI that looks good and giving buyer exclusivity Looking into Unreasonable stability fund Understanding Buyers That Are Not Like This Be honest about why you’re selling Letting go of your staff - but not bringing it up People working for them not very professional in an interview
Resources mentioned Aepic Sellers
There has probably never been a better time to sell a quality Private label or customer product business. The meteoric rise of Amazon aggregators since about 2020 has meant a jump in the competition for buyers of Amazon-based businesses. What does this mean? Well, an Amazon business with the same exact profit might be worth twice now what is was worth 2 years ago. However, this buying frenzy can lead to private label business owners making a series of mistakes when it comes to selling their businesses.
In the normal course of M & A (mergers and acquisitions), both the seller and buyer of the business understand the process.
But in the e-commerce space, private label business owners with no understanding of mergers often sit across from educated buyers with Stanford business degrees. There is a knowledge gap that is potentially dangerous for the business owners.
An unwise business seller can end up exaggerating that danger to themselves. That could show up in relation to the business itself, commonly in dodgy financial data, exaggerated revenue claims, faking reviews or black hat operating tactics. It could also be around the deal itself. Taking renegotiation personally, allowing a deal structure that is not right for you or allowing the buyers to force exclusivity on you are some classic errors.
Listen to today’s podcast to find out what these errors are - and how to avoid them. What you’ll learn
Be clear and understand it’s all about the buyer getting the best possible deal - it’s business! Lowball offers after Due diligence checking LOI that looks good and giving buyer exclusivity Looking into Unreasonable stability fund Understanding Buyers That Are Not Like This Be honest about why you’re selling Letting go of your staff - but not bringing it up People working for them not very professional in an interview
Resources mentioned Aepic Sellers
There has probably never been a better time to sell a quality Private label or customer product business. The meteoric rise of Amazon aggregators since about 2020 has meant a jump in the competition for buyers of Amazon-based businesses. What does this mean? Well, an Amazon business with the same exact profit might be worth twice now what is was worth 2 years ago. However, this buying frenzy can lead to private label business owners making a series of mistakes when it comes to selling their businesses.
In the normal course of M & A (mergers and acquisitions), both the seller and buyer of the business understand the process.
But in the e-commerce space, private label business owners with no understanding of mergers often sit across from educated buyers with Stanford business degrees. There is a knowledge gap that is potentially dangerous for the business owners.
An unwise business seller can end up exaggerating that danger to themselves. That could show up in relation to the business itself, commonly in dodgy financial data, exaggerated revenue claims, faking reviews or black hat operating tactics. It could also be around the deal itself. Taking renegotiation personally, allowing a deal structure that is not right for you or allowing the buyers to force exclusivity on you are some classic errors.
Listen to today’s podcast to find out what these errors are - and how to avoid them. What you’ll learn
How to decide when to sell Financial accounting errors The dangers of exaggerating revenue Why exclusivity is often asked for by the buyers - and why you need to avoid it! Why fake reviews are more dangerous to your business sale than you might think What an “earnout” is and when it’s right for you A common error in the supply chain - and how to fix it
Resources mentioned Aepic Sellers
Display Advertising is one of the earliest online marketing methods, but it’s changed a lot over the years. In this episode we’ll share our lessons and perspective, plus a few tips, and resources too. If you’re an ecommerce seller and you’ve never investigated using Paid Display Ads beyond Facebook or Google, this is the conversation for you! What you’ll learn
Reasons to use Display Ad networks Display Ad Network Options How Facebook and Google factor into Display Advertising Understanding the costs involved in Display Advertising How Retargeting / Remarketing factor into the work How Display Advertising intersects with Influencer Marketing
The relationship between ads and other factors with Hai Mag and Eva What you’ll learn
Recap of the “5 Part Full Proof Framework”
Position The Problem Paint The Pain Sing The Solution Disclose The Data Offer Up Opportunities To Overcome Objections
Applying The Strategy For Warm Email List Justifying Your Email Build Deliverability and Engagement What Services Does EVA Offer?
The profit habits workshop just ended – and there are interesting lessons to learn for every e-commerce operator – Jason I know you have a list of insights / take-aways that our listeners will get a lot of value out of – shall we jump in … What you’ll learn
7 Key Accounting Insights For Ecommerce Operators The value of a good CPA The Questions People Don’t Ask, but Should The value of a mentor The single biggest mistake ecommerce operators make with their accounting
Ben Sztejka was a former online seller on eBay and Amazon, when Ben trained as a Chartered Accountant, he found that traditional accountants did not understand eCommerce clients.
In 2018 Ben founded Your Ecommerce Accountant with the aim of providing a knowledgeable service for online entrepreneurs. What you’ll learn
What to claim when the VAT is back on DIY, Settlement from Amazon What Do You Have to Reclaim VAT on - Ads Applied 20% to Settlement - You Have Overclaimed Did You Know ½ of goods are exempt from VAT eCommerce Accountant - What services do you offer?
Ben Sztejka was a former online seller on eBay and Amazon, when Ben trained as a Chartered Accountant, he found that traditional accountants did not understand eCommerce clients.
In 2018 Ben founded Your Ecommerce Accountant with the aim of providing a knowledgeable service for online entrepreneurs. What you’ll learn
Understanding LTD Co-Register for VAT Why 20% of People that mistakenly register for VAT What scheme to register when you hit 85K VAT Threshold How it works for the US-based sellers The Value of the Accountancy Industry in the formation of UK Companies Doing OA vs RA Rate Scheme - Flat Rate Scheme Understanding It's Input Know who you’re buying from when it's VAT Registered
Self Publishing on Amazon is a terrific opportunity. It’s not just Kindle digital ebooks, Amazon has brought an older platform Create Space over to do paperbacks and hardbacks (physical products). You can use them to launch your self publishing business. What you’ll learn
The opportunity with Kindle ebooks How paperbacks can be done efficiently with Amazon KDP Launching expensive Kindle books that offer an entire course inside Using author copies to manage shipping Using KDP to cross promote your other products How Audible factors into the KPD Mix Creating a book via interviews
For founders who are looking for an above market valuation, flexible deal structuring, and a proven track record of growing and scaling E-commerce brands, they will be impressed with Accel Club's streamlined acquisition process (3-4 weeks), in-house technology platform, and operational and marketing expertise.
As an Acquisitions Associate/ Business Development Manager, Hugh has four years of international business development experience in North America and Europe where he has experience working in the Consumer Goods, Finance and Online Publishing Sectors. Hugh speaks English, French and Russian and enjoy singing in choir and playing the pipe organ in my free time.
If you, or any of your friends are interested in selling their E-commerce business, you're more then welcome to schedule a meeting with him to learn more about Accel Club's potential exit opportunity; or if you're an introducer, to learn about our Finder's Fee Agreement opportunity.
On this episode you'll learn:
Hug's Background and Who Service Does He Offer What does Accel Pro Offer What do we as smaller businesses bring to the table Adjusting to market Generic business less sellable How narrow can you be in the market Product adaptations Adding Personal Narratives on your Product Lunch How do we justify increased cost of a big product launch How to evaluate it
Listening and truly understanding are the foundations for good guidance. Rob runs a Virtual CFO company and has >10 years’ experience in Finance and entrepreneurship. Co-founded 4 clean-tech companies in China. Strong listener that understands Finance, Strategy and the perspective of a business owner. Focus is on the strategic role of finance: investment decisions, fundraising, cash flow forecasting and scenario planning. Next to running his own business, Rob has been advising and mentoring companies in Software, eCommerce and Professional Services industries, with a geographic focus on Greater China, South East Asia and Western Europe.
On this episode you'll learn:
Definition of Profit Definition of Cashflow Why is it important to understand Profit and Cashflow The mistakes Rob see in Profit and Cashflow What are the danger signals Negotiating with suppliers only price Types of cashflow Errors that ecommerce sellers make
Listening and truly understanding are the foundations for good guidance. Rob runs a Virtual CFO company and has >10 years’ experience in Finance and entrepreneurship. Co-founded 4 clean-tech companies in China. Strong listener that understands Finance, Strategy and the perspective of a business owner. Focus is on the strategic role of finance: investment decisions, fundraising, cash flow forecasting and scenario planning. Next to running his own business, Rob has been advising and mentoring companies in Software, eCommerce and Professional Services industries, with a geographic focus on Greater China, South East Asia and Western Europe.
On this episode you'll learn:
The idea of a loss leader How to judge that a product isn't working Understanding your profit first model How to make the business more profitable? How to add overhead without even having a budget
Listening and truly understanding are the foundations for good guidance. Rob runs a Virtual CFO company and has >10 years’ experience in Finance and entrepreneurship. Co-founded 4 clean-tech companies in China. Strong listener that understands Finance, Strategy and the perspective of a business owner. Focus is on the strategic role of finance: investment decisions, fundraising, cash flow forecasting and scenario planning. Next to running his own business, Rob has been advising and mentoring companies in Software, eCommerce and Professional Services industries, with a geographic focus on Greater China, South East Asia and Western Europe.
On this episode you'll learn:
Rob's Background The reason people start a business Why does starting a business matter The bug impacts of having a goal The key things that go on a business The vulnerable areas on a business What are the signs you’re doing this The no 1 place to cut costs A strategic reason for keeping a loss-making SKU on How to make the business more profitable
Ecommerce funding is a big issue for most serious Amazon sellers. Once they’ve got product to market fit and got a profit built into their unit economics, most Amazon sellers find the biggest block to growth is having enough capital. Whether it’s paying for enough inventory to stay in stock, or for advertising to drive traffic and thus sales, Amazon and ecommerce sellers usually find that sooner or later their biggest block to growth is enough capital.
Traditional small business funding options have some big downsides.
Equity (or “dilutive funding”) means of course, giving away a part of the business. Even for a 7-figure exit, that could cost you $200-300K within the next 3 years if you sell your business. That’s not a small thing. And it’s not theory - many many Amazon sellers I know (including our clients) have sold a business for 7 figures.
Loans (a form of “non dilutive funding”) normally come with fixed repayment terms. That’s bad news if you have a downturn in sales - because you still have to pay your creditors the money back, even if it’s not affordable for your business. But it gets worse. Most serious sized debt comes with a “personal guarantee”. That means that if you fail to pay back the loan, you could lose your personal home or other personal assets.
Asher Ismail of Uncapped talks through the options, what the alternatives are to traditional loans, and how to go about getting funding if you want to get it.
On this episode you'll learn:
Types of Business Uncapped funds Understanding "positive unity" economics Assessing your business if its eligible for funding What are you willing to pay to get funding? Maximize the chances of getting funding The value of growth funds Case Study : Hedouin
Ecommerce funding is a big issue for most serious Amazon sellers. Once they’ve got product to market fit and got a profit built into their unit economics, most Amazon sellers find the biggest block to growth is having enough capital. Whether it’s paying for enough inventory to stay in stock, or for advertising to drive traffic and thus sales, Amazon and ecommerce sellers usually find that sooner or later their biggest block to growth is enough capital.
Traditional small business funding options have some big downsides.
Equity (or “dilutive funding”) means of course, giving away a part of the business. Even for a 7-figure exit, that could cost you $200-300K within the next 3 years if you sell your business. That’s not a small thing. And it’s not theory - many many Amazon sellers I know (including our clients) have sold a business for 7 figures.
Loans (a form of “non dilutive funding”) normally come with fixed repayment terms. That’s bad news if you have a downturn in sales - because you still have to pay your creditors the money back, even if it’s not affordable for your business. But it gets worse. Most serious sized debt comes with a “personal guarantee”. That means that if you fail to pay back the loan, you could lose your personal home or other personal assets.
Asher Ismail of Uncapped talks through the options, what the alternatives are to traditional loans, and how to go about getting funding if you want to get it.
On this episode you'll learn:
What is Uncapped - Why you shouldn’t give away equity to fund growth Challenges on getting funding How to prepare to get funding The Difference between Loan and Equity Pros and Cons of Loan and Equity Other Challengers You will be facing when getting funding How to use your capital to develop your business Understanding “non dilutive” funding
Moving from reselling physical products - whether dropshipping on Shopify or Retail Arb on Amazon - to developing your own products is a big step. It’s really the key to creating a really valuable, sellable business. This is the real prize these days - I know so many business owners who have sold their product businesses for high 6 or 7 figures. If you’re going to keep owning your business, it also means it’s defensible and profitable for you.
But it is a big, expensive and complex undertaking compared to simply reselling others’ products. So today we’re going to go over how to approach this complex process in a structured way to get you the best chance of a profitable product that gives you profit and makes your business valuable and - if you choose - sellable .
On this episode you'll learn:
How do we best go about developing custom products Big Area No. 1 - Market research Brainstorm Products Assess Market Find members of target market Product Development : Suppliers and Samples Customize Your Products
For many ecommerce sellers (or Amazon sellers specifically) Amazon Global Selling sounds sexy but daunting at the same time. I can say that it has made me and my clients a great deal of money, and helped spread the risk in a very helpful way. I’m completely sold on the great possibilities of Amazon global selling.
Expanding internationally on Amazon is something many of us have considered but many people have yet to take the plunge. Partly that’s because selling on Amazon UK (if you’re based in the USA) or selling on Amazon USA (if you’re based outside America) can seem daunting. In today’s episode, we aim to make it more concrete and doable for you.
We cover a basic checklist of the kinds of things you need to take care of to make it happen with Tom Meek of Payoneer. Payoneer specializes in helping ecommerce sellers expand internationally, and they’re a great hub connected to partners who take care of many of the details. Whether you aspire to being an Amazon global seller, or sell on other international ecommerce marketplaces. You have a similar set of hurdles to overcome. Whether it’s dealing with VAT in Europe for American Amazon sellers, Sales Tax in the USA, or handling international payments, we are giving you an overview of the hurdles you need to jump to become an international ecommerce seller.
On this episode you'll learn:
Advantages of International Payments with Payoneer A Sample of A USA Based Business The Double Conversion Issue Pay via Advantage What Does Payoneer Offer?
Receiving Accounts Working Capital Commercial Card
The Big Piece Around Advertising and Getting to Grips with Customers
For many ecommerce sellers (or Amazon sellers specifically) Amazon Global Selling sounds sexy but daunting at the same time. I can say that it has made me and my clients a great deal of money, and helped spread the risk in a very helpful way. I’m completely sold on the great possibilities of Amazon global selling.
Expanding internationally on Amazon is something many of us have considered but many people have yet to take the plunge. Partly that’s because selling on Amazon UK (if you’re based in the USA) or selling on Amazon USA (if you’re based outside America) can seem daunting. In today’s episode, we aim to make it more concrete and doable for you.
We cover a basic checklist of the kinds of things you need to take care of to make it happen with Tom Meek of Payoneer. Payoneer specializes in helping ecommerce sellers expand internationally, and they’re a great hub connected to partners who take care of many of the details. Whether you aspire to being an Amazon global seller, or sell on other international ecommerce marketplaces. You have a similar set of hurdles to overcome. Whether it’s dealing with VAT in Europe for American Amazon sellers, Sales Tax in the USA, or handling international payments, we are giving you an overview of the hurdles you need to jump to become an international ecommerce seller.
On this episode you'll learn:
Starting An Amazon Business Is It Worth It? A Brief Introduction of Thomas Meek The Amazon Business Checklist Identifying An Addressable Market Understanding VAT In The US and Euro Market General Pathway For Tax Looking At Europe and It's Tax Structure Establishing A Business In UK Based Into USA The Logistics of Going Overseas Look at Using A 3PL
Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world.
Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide.
Joe’s book, The EXITpreneur’s Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit.
On this episode you'll learn:
Emotions: When Brings On A New Advisor/Broker Managing The Sellers Emotions Is Important Aggregators Guys A Cautionary Story When Handling Aggregators Guys Earnouts Aren’t Called “Profit Sharing” Understanding DIY and Setting Up A Competition Working with An Advisor The Importance of Valuations Rolling Equity Explained The Trick with Aggregators
Joe Valley is a serial entrepreneur, EXITpreneur, M&A Advisor, Podcaster and Partner at Quiet Light Brokerage, one of the top online business brokerage-advisory firms in the world.
Joe has also built, bought, or sold over half a dozen of his own companies. And over the last nine years, he has mentored thousands of entrepreneurs whose goal is to achieve their own eventual exit. He is a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional, and a frequent guest expert in mastermind groups, AMAs, on podcasts, and at speaker events for entrepreneurs worldwide.
Joe’s book, The EXITpreneur’s Playbook – How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar – shares real-life stories of successful and failed exits, and teaches you how to reverse engineer a pathway to your own incredible exit.
On this episode you'll learn:
How to Sell your Online Business for Top Dollar Joey Valley's Background Setting Goals
Aiming for freedom and flexibility How do you set goals
4 Pillars of Value How to package the business Venturing Listing business - creating competition for buying Understanding Deal structure How do seller notes work? Why use a Broker? Why not go direct to Aggregators?
Job #1 for any business owner is – keep your business alive & thriving. Part of that responsibility is to avoid – or at least reduce – risks. In this episode we’ll share 6 ways smart business owners are doing just that.
On this episode you'll learn:
The value of Upgrading Your Financial Operating System (financial) How to Manage Debt More Wisely (financial) Learning about The “Black Swan” by Nicholas Nassim Taleb : About the impact of the unforeseen The reason to Upgrade your CPA / Tax Professionals (mentors) Looking to Get a profit-minded business coach / mentor How to Create a cash surplus / Emergency Fund Understanding and Doing a self-audit of any legal issues
Amazon sellers have seen some big trends over the last couple of years. In addition to the growth of the size of ecommerce markets, there has been an explosion in the value of ecommerce businesses, and specifically brands with a focus on Amazon FBA, especially private label or custom product brands.
Amazon Aggregators are now a key type of FBA business buyer . They have from a theoretical concept to huge players (with massive funding) within under 3 years. But what are the underlying factors behind this rise? What is driving this explosive growth of eCommerce Aggregators? Who is funding them? And can the growth continue?
To answer that question we have two experts from the research division of Global Wired Advisors. With a background in Wall Street, they bring some investment rigour to analysing Amazon Aggregators. Together we explore what is going on with Aggregators, where they’ve come from and what might happen next in this exciting development.
In the end, the majority of all the cash you ever make on Amazon could end up being made by selling to an aggregator. That being the case, you need to understand who you’re dealing with! If you own an Amazon-focussed custom product or private label brand, it’s time to really understand these increasingly well-funded and active Amazon players.
Meet Our Guests :
Global Wired Advisors' Managing Partner and Co-Founder is Joe Hogg. He is also the CEO and Founder of J.P. Morgan, as well as the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Providium Group LLC. Advisors of Ryland Capital. Joe was previously the Managing Director of Deutsche Bank's Structured Finance division and the Global Head of Funding for Wells Fargo Securities, a trading and investment banking branch of Wells Fargo. Global Wired Advisors' Head of Research is Robert Salmon. Robert was previously a Senior Vice President at Wolfe Research, LLC and an Associate Analyst for Deutsche Bank Securities' automotive division. He has worked with a variety of transportation organizations, including Amazon Logistics, UPS, FedEx, the USPS and LTL trucking companies.
In this episode you will learn:
Understanding aggregator risk and return Moving capital into the space Aggregators : Roll Up Strategy “Economies of Scale” Spoke to an Aggregator - Are They Really Getting It? Highlighting Risk Factors to the Amazon aggregator business model Strategically how to mitigate against risk Insights on the Client base Amazon and DTC businesses The future of Aggregator Model
Amazon sellers have seen some big trends over the last couple of years. In addition to the growth of the size of ecommerce markets, there has been an explosion in the value of ecommerce businesses, and specifically brands with a focus on Amazon FBA, especially private label or custom product brands.
Amazon Aggregators are now a key type of FBA business buyer . They have from a theoretical concept to huge players (with massive funding) within under 3 years. But what are the underlying factors behind this rise? What is driving this explosive growth of eCommerce Aggregators? Who is funding them? And can the growth continue?
To answer that question we have two experts from the research division of Global Wired Advisors. With a background in Wall Street, they bring some investment rigour to analysing Amazon Aggregators. Together we explore what is going on with Aggregators, where they’ve come from and what might happen next in this exciting development.
In the end, the majority of all the cash you ever make on Amazon could end up being made by selling to an aggregator. That being the case, you need to understand who you’re dealing with! If you own an Amazon-focussed custom product or private label brand, it’s time to really understand these increasingly well-funded and active Amazon players.
Meet Our Guests :
Joe Hogg is the Managing Partner and Co-founder of Global Wired Advisors. He is also the Managing Partner and Co-founder of Providium Group LLC, and the CEO and Founder of J. Ryland Capital Advisors. Prior to these roles, Joe was the Global Head of Funding for Wells Fargo’s trading and investment banking division, Wells Fargo Securities, and was the Managing Director of the Structured Finance division at Deutsche Bank.
Robert Salmon is the Head of Research at Global Wired Advisors. Prior to working at the firm, Robert was the Senior Vice President at Wolfe Research, LLC, and an Associate Analyst for an automotive team at Deutsche Bank Securities. He has experience analyzing transportation companies such as Amazon Logistics, UPS, FedEx, the USPS, trucking companies (TL and LTL), 3PLs, as well as the broader economy.
In this episode you will learn:
Who are GWA (Global Wired Advisors) and what do they do? What is an investment side? A brief background of Global Wired Advisors Building a Deal Screen Why have aggregators become such a big thing so fast? The big 3Ps of Amazon Generating interest and gathering investors to your business Applying CPG trad portfolio to determine the busines value
Job #1 for any business owner is - to keep your business alive & thriving. Part of that responsibility is to avoid - or at least reduce - risks. In this episode, we’ll share 6 ways smart business owners are doing just that. You will learn
6 ways to reduce ecommerce business risk What you need to measure in your finances The missing money measurement physical product sellers need The main issue with debt - and it's not just having it! The alternatives to loans that you may not know exist The secret source of cash in your business Why your professional advisors may not be up to scratch - and what to do about it The missing professional in many e-commerce sellers' lives The difference between a coach and a mentor
Amazon SEO – or “Amazon keyword ranking” – is rightly more than important – it’s almost an obsession of any focussed ecommerce operator who sells on Amazon.
Getting your product listing to rank on Amazon for powerful keywords is indeed incredibly important.
Having talked in the last live (or last 2 podcast episodes) about the strategic drivers, today we discuss some practical action steps to get your products ranked for valuable keywords on Amazon? What you’ll learn
How boost traffic to your Amazon listing without advertising How to conduct keyword research How to refine your keyword lists Best practices in keyword research How A+ content impacts search engine optimization on Amazon Is adjusting the main image a good hack for SEO / ranking?
Resources for Amazon SEO
Viral Launch Helium 10 Jungle Scout Google SEO Training: clickminded.com by Tommy Griffith, former Head of SEO, PayPal & AirBnB amazingfba Steve Pope of My Amazon Guy
Paul Ace is the CEO at Amplify C-Com. They help high ticket online course creators make an extra $50k or more in less than 30 days without ads, sales calls or webinars.
Paul has been popularizing the term C-Com (Conversational Commerce) over the last 3 years. His team have neatly tied together human psychology and automation to create something that leads to more profits in the customer's pocket.
He has worked with the likes of John Lee Dumas, Pete Vargas, Ray Higdon, Gabe Schillinger, Stephen & Chelsey Diaz and more What you’ll learn
The part of a business that lose the most money How to we create customer wow Dealing with scaling issues Ecommerce store and setting up triggers Handling abandoned cart call If someone wanted a quick win, what’s the fastest way to do that? Lessons from returns! How to avoid this: When tracking numbers What to do to get wins
Book a “Success Mapping Call” www.Amplifyccom.com
Paul Ace is the CEO at Amplify C-Com. They help high ticket online course creators make an extra $50k or more in less than 30 days without ads, sales calls or webinars.
Paul has been popularizing the term C-Com (Conversational Commerce) over the last 3 years. His team have neatly tied together human psychology and automation to create something that leads to more profits in the customer's pocket.
He has worked with the likes of John Lee Dumas, Pete Vargas, Ray Higdon, Gabe Schillinger, Stephen & Chelsey Diaz and more What you’ll learn
What is C-Com? How to make write copy feel like a conversation How do we deal with the first sale and last sale issue as Amazon sellers Adding extra value through buying journey What else do people need at that point on a first sale How people resonate with Paul and story of business Copywriting and Conversational copy The “embedded commands” and why are they so powerful in marketing? How to write a copy Process - Getting Marketing Dialled in to the audience
It’s never been easier to set up a click-funnel campaign. In this episode we’re going to dive into the topic of how – and why – to add Click Funnels to your business. What you’ll learn
What ClickFunnels Is The ideal use-case for ClickFunnels and use-cases that would be problems. How it can easily fit into an e-commerce business. How NOT to use it in an e-commerce business – and what bad things will happen if you use it in the wrong way. How to maximize your use of ClickFunnels with 5 opportunities to sell a product in every funnel. What we’ve learned running 3 large scale ClickFunnel based campaigns this year. How we use ClickFunnels in our business – with behind the scenes details and numbers. How long it takes to set up a ClickFunnels campaign. Using it for physical products. Using it for membership programs. Using it for information products. and more!
Josh Dittrich extremely driven visionary entrepreneur, passionate about solving problems with the use of talent and capital. He is also an exit advisor, and the founder of Branded Seller, a company that helps small-scale businesses raise their valuations and find the right aggregator to work with.
He learned early on that doing what you're the best in the world at and most passionate about helps you find your calling. Entrepreneurship was that for him. Taking nothing to something; or something to something greater has been one of the best way he have found to best monetize those skills and talents.
In this episode you will learn:
Being In A Position To Sell Your Business How To Get To A Point of Being Able To Do This Josh Shares His Experience Helping A Guy Run To 50M Traction Is The EOS - For Small Teams Start With What You’re Doing That Is Low Value Ways Around Low Profit Margin How Do People Move From Solopreneur To Being In A Position To Work On Selling Own Business Key Is To Be In The Mindset Of Automating Things Mistake Most People Do Outsource Bits And Pieces Of Tasks
Josh Dittrich extremely driven visionary entrepreneur, passionate about solving problems with the use of talent and capital. He is also an exit advisor, and the founder of Branded Seller, a company that helps small-scale businesses raise their valuations and find the right aggregator to work with.
He learned early on that doing what you're the best in the world at and most passionate about helps you find your calling. Entrepreneurship was that for him. Taking nothing to something; or something to something greater has been one of the best way he have found to best monetize those skills and talents.
In this episode you will learn:
DIY vs a Broker When Selling Your Business Brokers Make Sense Experience with Broker Josh's Experience - Negotiated Process Google Aggregators The Basic Process Buyer List Process of Selling Do You Have Time To DIY? The Opportunity Cost to Sell Business
There are massive benefits to adding Information products to your current e-commerce business. In this 1st episode, we’ll explain why it’s so valuable, explain how best to do it, and share a real-life example. What you’ll learn
3 Reasons To Add Digital Products The Definition of an “Unswitchable TAM” Why The Law Of Diminishing Returns In Advertising is important to understand Strategies for Amazon centric digital goods sellers The 9 attributes of a good product and how they relate to digital products.
Resources Mentioned
theecommerceleader.com
E-commerce and Business Books Mentioned
E-commerce Power
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Taylor Lagace is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Kynship, an Influencer Marketing Agency that exists to create belonging so that each story is celebrated!
Prior to founding Kynship, he worked at Athletes First, an NFL agency, where he was responsible for marketing on behalf of NFL stars, such as Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, and Deshaun Watson. From Athletes He transitioned to the digital marketing side of the influencer marketing space by building out the influencer department at Common Thread Collective.
His holistic learning and experience within this space has led me to a greater understanding of influencer marketing, which I hope to share with others who aim to leverage influencers for the growth of their business.
In this episode you will learn:
Recommended Tool for Tracking Influencer Overview of Mighty Scout Timescale on Choosing an Influencer The Compounding Value of an Influencer Leveraging Your Influencer Onboard as affiliates Identifying Top Performers The Benefits of Using Kynship
Taylor Lagace is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Kynship, an Influencer Marketing Agency that exists to create belonging so that each story is celebrated!
Prior to founding Kynship, he worked at Athletes First, an NFL agency, where he was responsible for marketing on behalf of NFL stars, such as Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, and Deshaun Watson. From Athletes He transitioned to the digital marketing side of the influencer marketing space by building out the influencer department at Common Thread Collective.
His holistic learning and experience within this space has led me to a greater understanding of influencer marketing, which I hope to share with others who aim to leverage influencers for the growth of their business.
In this episode you will learn:
What are Aggregators. What to expect when you hire an M & A firm. Why bother with a broker? Who is buying? Difference between selling timescale aggregator vs broker Brokers - start with due diligence/audit process Buyer due diligence Types of buyers The characteristics of desirable buyers
Thomas Smale is the Founder and CEO of FE International. He is a serial business entrepreneur and M&A expert, having built the industry leading firm in the $1-100M global technology sector.
Smale is an authority source on e-commerce, and in fact established the very category of M&A advisory for online businesses.
Smale began building and selling online companies in his early 20s as an interest. When he proved to have a natural talent for increasing the value of these businesses, this became his full-time career.
Over the last decade, Smale has grown FE International into an award-winning global M&A advisor of SaaS, e-commerce, and content businesses, completing acquisitions for thousands of founders, owners, and acquirers and advising on over $500MM in lifetime acquisitions.
In this episode you will learn:
What are Aggregators. What to expect when you hire an M & A firm. Why bother with a broker? Who is buying? Difference between selling timescale aggregator vs broker Brokers - start with due diligence/audit process Buyer due diligence Types of buyers The characteristics of desirable buyers
Thomas Smale is the Founder and CEO of FE International. He is a serial business entrepreneur and M&A expert, having built the industry leading firm in the $1-100M global technology sector.
Smale is an authority source on e-commerce, and in fact established the very category of M&A advisory for online businesses.
Smale began building and selling online companies in his early 20s as an interest. When he proved to have a natural talent for increasing the value of these businesses, this became his full-time career.
Over the last decade, Smale has grown FE International into an award-winning global M&A advisor of SaaS, e-commerce, and content businesses, completing acquisitions for thousands of founders, owners, and acquirers and advising on over $500MM in lifetime acquisitions.
In this episode you will learn:
The elements that drive value/price. Reliability and consistency. Find out the things that people don't care about such as SKUs. Approach relationship between revenue/gross profit and # SKUs. Preparing for a sale the best way to increase the value of your business. What to do when buyers come in and look at everything. Things you do to exit your business. The middle ground between no planning and a plan. Difference between Brokers vs Aggregators.
On this episode we will discuss Amazon Refund Third Party Seller analytics with Hai Mag of Eva.
Hai Mag is an eCommerce Entrepreneur, Growth Leader, and Investor with experience in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He is passionate about building businesses from 0 to $1B ARR.
On this episode you'll learn:
Why it matters to bother with reimbursements/refunds? What info do we need and how do we find it? The 25 areas of discrepancies and mistakes. Identifying incorrect reimbursements. What are the classic inbound shipping errors
On this episode we will discuss Amazon Profit analytics with Hai Mag of Eva.
Hai Mag is an eCommerce Entrepreneur, Growth Leader, and Investor with experience in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He is passionate about building businesses from 0 to $1B ARR.
On this episode you'll learn:
Why it matters on having a clear P & L Analytics. What KPIs shou you track. Per Product You need to Know: What is the Cost? Advertising Costs/Launch The Three Phases The Case for Software - Why not just use a Spreadsheet? What Eva offers
The growth of e-commerce has been very much a global story over the last 10 to 15 years. The acceleration of that trend under Covid has also been very much an international trend. Amazon has had a particularly huge part in that.
However many ecommerce business owners are conflicted. Should I sell in Amazon international marketplaces? How do I evaluate such a complex opportunity?
Today we go through a simple 10-step process to evaluate whether Amazon international marketplaces might be right for your business. And if so, how to choose where to expand globally first. What you’ll learn
How your long-term plans affect your amazon Global decisions What you might do instead of Amazon global expansion Why it’s so important to add just one new channel at a time The 4 or 5 main barriers to entry Who not How and how this applies to Amazon international selling in particular What to do to test your thesis The most important step of all…a decision that is often neglected!
Resources To Check Out
Interview with Kevin Sanderson on Amazon expansion to UK for N. American businesses Interview with John Cant of Rising Sun Commerce – Japan expansion Eva.Guru – multi marketplace Amazon analytics, repricing and stock control – in one Simply VAT for UK/US sellers wanting to sell in EU (and US sellers in UK) YLT translations of Jana Krekic Paul Sonneveld of Merchant Spring – multi-channel (off Amazon) analytics tracking Interview with Chris Scrimgour of Payoneer -international markets outside Amazon
Some of the resources on this page may be affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase. We only promote those products or services that we have investigated and truly feel deliver value to you.
Episode 2 : Scaling an Amazon Reseller Business to 80 Employees
Scott Needham is the CEO and Founder of SmartScout and BuyBoxer. Through being the CEO of BuyBoxer this led him to build SmartScout, the most extensive brand and seller research tool ever made. He is also the host of the very humbly named Smartest Amazon Seller podcast.
In this podcast, Scott will be sharing his insights on how strategies in reselling and how to scale it.
On this episode you'll learn:
The reason why Scott decided to scale a reseller business. Why choose reselling. The best practices to scale a business. The value of Process Acceleration. The things Scott would do differently if he had to do reselling business again. The value of Smart Scout. Avoid ways to loose margin.
Episode 1 : How to Grow a Brand: Buying, Scaling & Selling a PL business with Scott Needham
Scott Needham is the CEO and Founder of SmartScout and BuyBoxer. Through being the CEO of BuyBoxer this led him to build SmartScout, the most extensive brand and seller research tool ever made. He is also the host of the very humbly named Smartest Amazon Seller podcast.
In this podcast, Scott will be sharing his insights on how strategies in reselling and how to scale it.
On this episode you'll learn:
Why buy then scale instead of just building from scratch. The upside of buying. What to consider between Price Brands and just the price. The Challenges of Buying. The Keys to Success when Scaling. Good practices on running the business. What worked and what didn't working during the process. How to Use Data Sources.
Hai Mag, the CEO and cofounder of Eva “intelligent profit maximization platform for Amazon sellers” including both resellers and PL sellers will talk about Amazon Profit Analytics and what to look for in your KPI's.
Get a 15 day free trial here.
You’ll Learn:
Why it is important to have clear P & L analytics How they do taxes in Europe What KPI's to track How to find the cost per product and why it's important The advertising cost for a product launch The launch phase objective and product/market fit How to scale your business when there is continuous growth To sustain sales and reduce cost Why using a software trumps using a spreadsheet for tracking
Episode 2 : Earn-outs and Competence of Aggregators to Grow your Business with from SellerX
Kris Linton is the COO at TCA. He has past experience working with Amazon and has a background in retail for over six years.
Daniel Calleja is used to be an Amazon seller and sold his business - after a few years he's back and now joined SellerX, fulltime.
In this podcast, Kris and Daniel will continue sharing their insights on how to sell your Amazon Business.
On this episode you'll learn:
A flexible approach on selling your business. The reason to sell your business now. The right time to when you should sell your business. The processes in selling your business Share vs Asset Purchase understand the difference. Looking into Deal Structures. The challenges when selling your business. What you're really buying when you buy a brand.
Episode 1 : Why Sell Your Amazon Business with Kris Linton and Daniel Calleja of SellerX
Kris Linton is the COO at TCA. He has past experience working with Amazon and has a background in retail for over six years.
Daniel Calleja is used to be an Amazon seller and sol his business - after a few years he's back and now joined Seller X, fulltime.
In this podcast, Kris and Daniel will be sharing their insights on how to sell your Amazon Business.
On this episode you'll learn:
A flexible approach on selling your business. The reason to sell your business now. The right time to when you should sell your business. The processes in selling your business Share vs Asset Purchase understand the difference. Looking into Deal Structures. The challenges when selling your business. What you're really buying when you buy a brand.
All of us get into e-commerce for the purpose of making a profit. It’s the first, and most important goal. But it can be elusive. In this episode we’ll dive into the 7 Steps For Creating a highly profitable ecommerce company.
What you’ll learn
How full-time ecommerce professionals answer the question, “how do you get more profitable” and how successful, but still part-time ecommerce sellers answer that question. Interesting insights from the recent Jungle Scout seller survey. A recap of Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. 7 Steps to creating a highly Profitable Ecommerce Company
Today Hai Mag, the CEO and cofounder of Eva “intelligent profit maximization platform for Amazon sellers” including both resellers and PL sellers will talk about how to do proper stock management with Eva.
Get a 15 day free trial here.
You'll Learn:
The classic errors of stock management About the Smart Warehouse Where the FBM Stock goes The integrated platform that Eva covers That we should solve problems with different tools and not the same tools How a Smart Warehouse operates The issues of FBA What Eva offers as an integrated platform
Hai Mag CEO and cofounder of Eva “intelligent profit maximization platform for Amazon sellers” including both resellers and Private Label sellers.
Get a 15 day free trial here.
You'll Learn:
The challenges that supply chains face Why you need to have more contingency in place with supply chain What is inventory-based pricing How pricing influences inventory days How lower velocity makes you lose ranking How Eva Guru predicts stock Finding out your profit velocity Check which products really make money
SEO, in its broadest sense, is a very powerful and important source of traffic for any ecommerce operator.
But Amazon SEO – or “Amazon keyword ranking” – is rightly more than important – it’s almost an obsession of any focussed ecommerce operator who sells on Amazon.
Getting your product listing to rank on Amazon for powerful keywords is indeed incredibly important.
Get it wrong and it pretty much dooms your product to either low sales or fair sales but no profit (frankly mostly it’s a loss but I don’t want to depress you too much!)
Get it right and it drives not only sales and revenue but – more importantly – profitable sales and healthy cashflow.
But there are a quite a few myths and some misconceptions around this topic. Above all, I feel there is a n unhealthy focus on hacks and trying to fool the algorithm, rather than taking a more strategic approach.
Also, cutting Amazon SEO off from other business decision – like market choice, cost structure and optimising for conversion – is not only mediocre thinking, it isn’t even possible with Amazon SEO. So a holistic approach that includes market choice and conversion optimising is – in my opinion – the only effective approach to Amazon SEO.
So today we are going to dive into this topic. As with our recent episode on conversion, the aim is to help you increase your profits as you work to increase your sales What you’ll learn
What SEO means What kind of business model Amazon SEO is important for Why Amazon SEO is critical for all Amazon sellers The 3-way tension at the heart of SEO on all platforms How to get started with Amazon SEO Why conversions are inseparable from SEO on Amazon
The 3 essential digital marketing metrics for all SEO (across all platforms) How those metrics show up on Amazon and what to do about them How budget ties into Amazon SEO How to evaluate if a keyword is worth trying to rank for How long-tail keywords factor into Amazon SEO
Hai Mag CEO and co-founder of Eva “an intelligent profit maximization platform for Amazon sellers” including both resellers and Private Label sellers is going to talk about Amazon Pricing Strategy today.
Get a 15 day free trial here.
You'll Learn:
What the algorithm does for managing prices The basic factors in the pricing decisions The relationship between Ad costs and selling price The pricing against competition How to do rounding up/psychology pricing The Pros and cons of Manual pricing How Eva handles Buy Boxing How Eva manages things in real life How “AI powered” does not really mean AI
Hai Mag CEO and co-founder of Eva “an intelligent profit maximization platform for Amazon sellers” including both resellers and Private Label sellers.
Get a 15 day free trial here.
You'll Learn:
Why it matters Why we buy from Amazon What factors affect price change How to do pricing for inventory How inflation, out of stock, demand, trends and similar items influences prices How pricing should start impacting velocity Why sellers and aggregators do dynamic pricing How supply and demand works in economy What happens when you go out of stock
If you want to drive conversions on Amazon, then you’ll want to get really good at photography and image marketing. In this episode we dive into this topic and to help you increase your PROFITS as you work to increase your SALES. What you’ll learn
The Person, Problem, Psychological Driver Framework. The 10 steps to create terrific visual impact Tips for working with a photographer The 4 types of images you need on every Amazon listing.
If the lockdown hit retail everywhere in the world in 2020 and 2021 is big news, there is another interesting trend happening more quietly in ecommerce. TO put it simply: despite the massive growth in Amazon sales - or possibly because of it - ecommerce sellers now have more to lose than ever before from Amazon account suspensions. And they are getting ever more frustrated with the lack of customer data from Amazon.
The natural next step is to set up your own Shopify or Direct to Consumer (DTC) site. But what if there are other options that could move as many units - or possibly many more - and bring big profits?
Step forward the B2B business to business model of selling your products to retailers, most of whom will have a physical store or network of physical retail locations. While not common and not as easy to start as the classic Shopify move, this has many upsides for someone with good product development abilities and or a great product. Today’s guest, Paul Brooks, explores with Michael what the upsides are of this approach; and how to start approaching retailers successfully.
You'll Learn:
If Brick and Mortar have a future and what it will look like Why we still need B&M and not just online stores How to sell B&M to retailers The attractive qualities of B&M Comparing online and offline buyer experience How to drive a person to discover that product Physical Retailer vs Product Developer How social media drives traffic How to sell experience in a physical store
If there’s been one feature of lockdown life that has hit headlines everywhere in the world in 2020 and 2021, it’s the fate of the high street. To read the press, watch TV or follow social media in North America, Europe, Australia/NZ or anywhere else in the Developed nations, it seems as if the physical retail/brick and mortar stores are dead and buried as a business model.
Today’s guest, Paul Brooks, not only disagrees, he sees a huge retail renaissance coming. But rather than thinking about the traditional bricks and mortar vs “e-commerce” divide, Paul has a different view on where the future of retail lies. Paul is based in the UK and is an expert on Retail trends in the UK but nearly all the lessons will apply to retailers anywhere in the globe.
You'll Learn:
How the old business model compares to the new business model What’s behind the big online players’ moves That as social creatures, humans have a need to go to a physical store Why big retailers models don’t work How to work on a "phygital marketplace" How to increase footfall to your store The benefits of a pop-up store The upcoming opportunities for small businesses
The growth of e-commerce has been very much a global story over the last 10 to 15 years. The acceleration of that trend under Covid has also been very much an international trend. Amazon has had a particularly huge part in that.
However many ecommerce business owners are conflicted. Should I sell in Amazon international marketplaces? How do I evaluate such a complex opportunity?
Today we go through a simple 10-step process to evaluate whether Amazon international marketplaces might be right for your business. And if so, how to choose where to expand globally first. What you’ll learn
How your long-term plans affect your amazon Global decisions What you might do instead of Amazon global expansion Why it’s so important to add just one new channel at a time The 4 or 5 main barriers to entry Who not How and how this applies to Amazon international selling in particular What to do to test your thesis The most important step of all…a decision that is often neglected!
We are still with Paul Sonneveld is the co-founder and CEO of Merchantspring. MerchantSpring Marketplace Services provides professional services to support brands with content enrichment, product photography, copywriting, listing optimisation, onboarding, and ongoing store management.
Sign up for a free trial below:
https://www.amazingfba.com/merchantspring
**Get a 50% discount for 3 months by using the code below:
AMAZING
You'll Learn:
Why we shouldn't just focus on Amazon That very few marketplaces have the fee structures that Amazon has To identify the biggest/most effective marketplaces for your users Learn about the different marketplaces with every location Identifying the trends on category specific marketplaces The domestic behemoth markets in Asia Why these markets are attractive
Paul Sonneveld is the co-founder and CEO of Merchantspring. MerchantSpring is the leading analytics and reporting platform for marketplace agencies, aggregators, and professional sellers.
Sign up for a free trial below:
https://www.amazingfba.com/merchantspring
**Get a 50% discount for 3 months by using the code below:
AMAZING
You'll Learn:
The most important metrics to track when you are doing multi-channel eCommerce Some great tools out there to get you on multiple channels How to manage the downside potential of small/medium sized issues Why you should not connect with 3PLs Why you need to have 2-3 types of users The key issues in agency partners How to optimize full profitability of the accounts The time challenges and ways to resolve them
The longer a customer camps on your website and/or product listing, the more likely they are to buy the product. In this episode we explore ways to get your time-on-site increased, so you’ve got a better shot at making the sale. What you’ll learn
10 Tips For Increasing Your Time On Site Why time on site and e-commerce conversion rate are tightly correlated. A recap of the conversion rate possibilities Frontier framework.
We are still with Mina Elias talking about how to sell your products on Amazon and how to overcome issues that come along with it.
To find out more about Mina Elias' PPC Agency click here.
If you want to check out some PPC training, click here.
You'll Learn:
The 3 main KPI's to look out for That testing needs to be done weekly Calculate if your Cost per session is too high To look for advisers and why they are needed That you need to have a great relationship with your supplier When is the right time to raise prices The psychology of pricing To find the fine balance between profit and scale
Custom Product Development is one of the biggest and hardest jobs in e-Commerce. Often the focus among Amazon Private Label/custom product sellers is on hacks to the selling side of your business. While those are important, if you don't have a product that solves your customers' problems better than the competition, it's going to be very hard to have even medium term success. In the end, if your customers love the results of your product, they will reward you with good reviews. In turn, this gives great conversion rates and keeps your units selling, your cash flowing and your profits growing. Mina Elias is the Chief Executive Officer at MMA Nutrition and is a living example of how customer and results obsession drives product development for raving fan customers on Amazon. Find out how Mina who was obsessed with nutrition, turned his MMA career into a successful Amazon business.
To find out more about Mina Elias' PPC Agency click here.
If you want to check out some PPC training, click here.
You'll Learn:
To simplify your product How Mina created his first supplement and how it impacted his business What Mina had to create to solve his nutritional need How to do product development Identify a problem and try to create a product to solve that issue How to research solutions To look at other products and find their limitations How to use your strengths to your advantage
Are you hoping to have a terrific Q4? If so, this episode is for you. We’re about to break down a simple plan designed to help you have your easiest and most lucrative Q4 yet. What you’ll learn
A 5-part plan for having your easiest & most lucrative Q4 yet. 5 Questions to get super goal clarity. 6 Questions to help you clarify your ideal product strategy. 3 Questions to help determine your ideal pricing approach to Q4 4 Questions to help you craft the perfect sales channel strategy for Q4
As the creator, administrator and at the moment still chief moderator of a free Facebook group for Amazon sellers, I see a lot of questions get asked there. Obviously I'm flattered that people use the group and trust us to deliver some answers. As a member of other groups I also see this in other peoples groups.
What gives me pause for thought is when I see certain types of questions being asked there which to me are simply too critical to your business or too technical for you to be trusting some random people on the Internet with.
In this episode, I outline some areas of your ecommerce business which I believe you should NOT seek advice for among amateur or beginner sellers. The only exceptions come from groups of highly experienced sellers (by which I mean those doing at least half a million USD a year or equivalent).
If you are doing at least $500K USD/Euros or GBP equivalent a year in Amazon private label or custom product sales, and you need a small, intensive peer group, check out our 10K Collective Mastermind, now in its 4th year. You'll Learn:
What the limits of free Facebook groups are What are expert-only questions How to make best use of expert peers (hint - it's often about Who not How) When it's worth spending money for advice.
We are still with Rytis Lauris the cofounder and CEO of omnisend. On this podcast we are going to talk about Amazon attribution.
Track and Optimize Email Campaign Conversions for Your Amazon Store Here: https://www.amazingfba.com/omnisend/
You'll Learn:
What is Amazon Attribution How Amazon Attribution works How to segment your list How you can use it for those selling solely on Amazon How to drive traffic to your Amazon stores Where to send traffic How to combine your own store and Amazon How to integrate your Amazon store to track customer behavior
Rytis Lauris is the cofounder and CEO of omnisend. Omnisend is an omni-channel marketing automation platform tailored for ecommerce.
If you want to know more about Omisend, check out the links below:
https://www.omnisend.com/blog/category/ios-updates/
https://opensaredead.com/
You'll Learn:
About the updated mail privacy settings How much of an impact the new iOS update is going to cause Why open rates still matter To check if someone has read the emails you sent How to rely more on automated campaign vs bulk emails/blasts What automates campaigns you need to have in place Why relevance matters How to augment emails with other channels
We are still with Edmund Zagorin is the founder of Bid Ops, which is a “predictive procurement platform” that helps businesses drive 2-5X savings in their product sourcing they do that by getting better quotes faster. With Fortune 100 customers and impressive case studies, Bid Ops is changing the way business teams partner with suppliers.
You'll Learn:
If we motivate suppliers by having a plan B Not count on your preferred suppliers being able to deliver forever The overall theory behind the procurement Consolidation vs optionality To “Goldilocks” the number of suppliers To have some geographical diversity How to set up alerts to plan for the future Diversification without fragmentation Logistics procurement
Edmund Zagorin is the founder of Bid Ops, which is a “predictive procurement platform” that helps businesses drive 2-5X savings in their product sourcing they do that by getting better quotes faster. With Fortune 100 customers and impressive case studies, Bid Ops is changing the way business teams partner with suppliers.
You'll Learn:
Why traditional procurement is broken The three different solutions to get around the shortage of labor To understand whether a price is competitive enough to prove That tasks that are easier to do get moved to the front of the line Tips from a Strategic sourcing consultant How reverse actions helped model his AI simulator What procurement wants When you can really expect to save money The practical outcomes in the predictive procurement platform
Are you hoping to have a terrific Q4? If so, this episode is for you. We’re about to break down a simple plan designed to help you have your easiest and most lucrative Q4 yet.
You’ll Learn
A 5-part plan for having your easiest & most lucrative Q4 yet. 5 Questions to get super goal clarity. 6 Questions to help you clarify your ideal product strategy. 3 Questions to help determine your ideal pricing approach to Q4 4 Questions to help you craft the perfect sales channel strategy for Q4
Isaac from Real Coaching - get real people, create real businesses to achieve real freedom; specifically Amazon FBA Private Label.
Click here for FREE TRAINING You'll Learn:
To know what metrics to track How to do more cross-selling How to create repeat buyers To identify the repeat buyers How he took a go-cart company from Las Vegas from 38k a year to 30K a month of profit The benefits of simplifying your metrics to drive profit When to seek professional help on your business To identify the shortcomings of the company What drives conversions
We are still with Isaac Kuhlman from Real Coaching - get real people, create real businesses to achieve real freedom; specifically Amazon FBA Private Label.
Click here for FREE TRAINING You'll Learn:
To know your conversion rate “Unit session percentage” If the issue is conversions or sessions How to improve the conversion rates Where you are ranking for your major keywords How to get an accurate picture of your true profit Cut your overhead spending How to use metrics to optimize your business That if keyword ranking is not on page 1 of the main keyword, then you need to get more sales on that main keyword The most important things you need to understand is whether or not your products make a profit
Unless you were living under a rock last week, you'll have noticed that Facebook had a serious 6-hour outage. What might this thought-provoking event mean for ecommerce sellers? You'll Learn:
How warren buffett’s famous quote applies to what we discover when a chanel goes downA Why “farming someone else’s land” is a risk Whether your business is “Tiger proof” The other risks outside marketing and sales channels to your business The dangers of “feature failure” on a marketing platform Why you need to own your own customer and prospect lists
Chelsea Cohen co- founder of the Sostocked inventory management software for Amazon sellers by Amazon sellers along with Dan Fernandez (founder of tomoson.com).
Here is the link to the Inventory-Minded Marketing Template:
https://www.amazingfba.com/sostocked
Book a demo of the software here:
https://www.sostocked.com/book-demo/?via=amazingfba
If you want to learn more about the software, here is the link to their homepage:
https://www.sostocked.com/?via=amazingfba You'll Learn:
How to make accurate calculations of future stock needs Raw basics of inventory management Exactly how much stock you need by asking the right questions What data goes into how much to order About Daily Adjusted Velocity How to deal with COVID variability How to plan for things you don’t know might happen The recommended buffer stock How to integrate stock tracking
Chelsea Cohen along with Dan Fernandez is the co-founders, of Sostocked inventory management software for Amazon sellers by Amazon sellers.
Here is the link to the Inventory-Minded Marketing Template:
https://www.amazingfba.com/sostocked
Book a demo of the software here:
https://www.sostocked.com/book-demo/?via=amazingfba
If you want to learn more about the software, here is the link to their homepage:
https://www.sostocked.com/?via=amazingfba
You'll Learn:
Why restocking and stock limits matter to Amazon sellers Why you should never put all your eggs in one basket If you need help from 3PL The knock-on effects - being better business people About the balance of finance and stock The other Parts of the IPI algorithm How to boost Amazon storage limits That Amazon doesn't want to be the storage facility and how it affects you The two main reasons for stock-out
We are still with Judson is a film-maker turned entrepreneur. He found quick success in Hollywood then turned his focus to business, where he scaled 2 Amazon brands to 8 figures.
You'll Learn:
Why creating a visual identity or brand matters Where to start when creating a brand story How to find more information about your product What colors, fonts, and logos to use in your branding How to do branding by yourself How to figure out other brand assets How to make sure your product packaging has strong branding To decide if you need to do lifestyle photography How to reuse videos in your brand
Judson is a film-maker turned entrepreneur. He found quick success in Hollywood then turned his focus to business, where he scaled 2 Amazon brands to 8 figures.
His video agency, butter.la, has become a leader in the Amazon content space as video has become increasingly important. They work with brands of every size from billion dollar multi-nationals to amazon sellers in their first year.
You can book a strategy session here: http://butter.la/contact
You can also check out www.Animoto.com for cheap videos from the images
You'll Learn:
The data to look for in brand analytics To target person who has the problem that your product solves How to do proper storytelling How Germany and the US are different in terms of branding How the brand story builds the real brand The benefits of spending a little money upfront How much money should you spend on branding The examples of conversion optimization How to sell real brands
All of us get into e-commerce for the purpose of making a profit. It’s the first, and most important goal. But it can be elusive. In this episode we’ll dive into the 7 Steps For Creating a highly profitable ecommerce company.
You'll Learn:
How full-time ecommerce professionals answer the question, “how do you get more profitable” and how successful, but still part-time ecommerce sellers answer that question. Interesting insights from the recent Jungle Scout seller survey. A recap of Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. 7 Steps to creating a highly Profitable Ecommerce Company
Omar Angri is the co-founder of Margin Business Amazon listing optimization and translation agency. He helps Amazon sellers to increase their sales on all Amazon Europe marketplaces.
Find out more here: https://www.amazingfba.com/omar
You'll Learn:
Why you can't just use Google translate for your Amazon listings Why it's important to hire someone who speaks the language and has Amazon experience How to do deep competitor analysis How to compete with Chinese companies The best way to find the medium and longtail keywords The Four-part formula helps you unlock success, kicking your competition to the curb Why Deep Competitor Analysis matters The difference between marketing to Germany and marketing to the US
Omar Angri is the co-founder of Margin Business Amazon listing optimization and translation agency. He helps Amazon sellers to increase their sales on all Amazon Europe marketplaces.
Find out more here: https://www.amazingfba.com/omar
You'll Learn:
Why you can't just use Google translate for your Amazon listings Why it's important to hire someone who speaks the language and has Amazon experience How to do deep competitor analysis How to compete with Chinese companies The best way to find the medium and longtail keywords The Four-part formula helps you unlock success, kicking your competition to the curb Why Deep Competitor Analysis matters The difference between marketing to Germany and marketing to the US
Creating your own product is a key to E-commerce business success. But it can be a long and complex process. In this multi-part episode, Michael shares a 6-step process for creating your first unique product.
You'll Learn:
The 6 steps to creating a custom product How to develop your own custom products How to best go about developing a customer How Market Research and Product Development are two sides of the same coin To dive deep into your market research To start with keyword research How to identify pitfalls in your own industry Brainstorming what you really know about and what you really care about Reverse engineer the problem you are trying to solve
We are still with Talor Ofer talking about how to get retail-ready, he also talks about the opportunities that people think were not possible.
Find out how to get Retail Ready Services and get a free evaluation/ audit here You'll Learn:
The two types of customers that you will encounter Learn to create visual language on your website How to create retail-ready catalogue language The purpose of a catalogue or look book
Talor Ofer has worked with retailers in the USA for 18 years, has also worked in China for 7 years, and understands the manufacturing chain pretty well.
Find out how to get Retail Ready Services and get a free evaluation/ audit here
You'll Learn:
If selling offline is dying The kind of retail competition that you should know about Why is this an opportunity for PL/custom product/Amazon focussed businesses How to find the opportunity to sell your products If you are retail-ready
Merchandizing is one of the most important practices any retailer can implement. And the beautiful part for e-commerce sellers is that – we have tons of options and strategies that are so powerful – offline sellers would call them magic! In this 2-part episode we’re going to break them down and explain why they are so powerful.
What you’ll learn
4 powerful e-commerce merchandising strategies that offline sellers cannot do. 3 ways to use dynamic pricing for powerful results Costco’s 6-Rights Model
Ana Santiago is the COO of Outsource School, she has been working remotely for over 10 years and now manages a team of over 15 VAs. Outsource School is there to give entrepreneurs the best and fastest hiring system.
1. Special Community Discount for 20% off our yearly plan: Code: Outsource20 Checkout Page: Outsource School Insider Checkout
Schedule a call with Ana for an in-depth explanation of how we can help and what our services are + additional bonuses to the discount: Chat with Ana from Outsource School2. VA Budget Calculator: Download the Free VA Calculator to Understand Your Hiring Budget (outsourceschool.com)
3. 5 Keys to Scaling Any Digital Business with Virtual Assistants - Three Crazy Simple Tactics to Hiring a VA (outsourceschool.com)
You'll Learn:
How to avoid getting the wrong person when hiring What the C.A.R.E acronym stands for How to interview your Virtual Assistant When to choose a specialist and a generalist How to transition out doing everything What you need to have in place to become hands off
If you’ve considered hiring a VA but have not taken the plunge, or if you have tried hiring but it’s not really worked out, today’s guest is going to help change that for you! Ana Santiago is the COO of Outsource School, she has been working remotely for over 10 years and now manages a team of over 15 VAs. Listen in for her insights on Filipino VAs.
1. Special Community Discount for 20% off our yearly plan: Code: Outsource20 Checkout Page: Outsource School Insider Checkout
Schedule a call with Ana for an in-depth explanation of how we can help and what our services are + additional bonuses to the discount: Chat with Ana from Outsource School
- VA Budget Calculator: Download the Free VA Calculator to Understand Your Hiring Budget (outsourceschool.com)
3. 5 Keys to Scaling Any Digital Business with Virtual Assistants - Three Crazy Simple Tactics to Hiring a VA (outsourceschool.com)
You'll Learn:
The number one reason that is stopping people from using a Virtual Assistant Why VAs in the Philippines are great VAs The secrets to building a great relationship with your VA How to get ready to outsource The difference between a virtual assistant and a personal assistant
We are still with Matt Edmundson an eCommerce coach and mentor for direct-to-consumer sites. Find out Matt's story and find out why he moved out of Amazon, and why you should too.
Check out more here: https://www.amazingfba.com/edmundson You'll Learn:
The constraints when selling on Amazon What is the future of the Amazon Marketplace The other platforms that you can use depending on your outcome goal To understand what you are good at and what Amazon is bad at How to distinguish between a first time customer and a repeat customer The concept of David vs. Goliath in the Ecommerce setting
Matt Edmundson is an eCommerce coach and mentor for direct-to-consumer sites making sure they are targeting the right customers on their market.
Check out more here: https://www.amazingfba.com/edmundson You'll Learn:
How to build a repeat business How to do customer service the right way How to avoid the old clunky system To buy from your competitors and learn what the buying experience is How to make your website as engaging as possible Where your target market is and meet them there
Matt Edmundson is an eCommerce coach and mentor for direct-to-consumer sites. He owns Jersey Beauty Company an eCommerce company that has now shipped over 7 million products around the world from our depot in Liverpool, UK.
Check out more here: https://www.amazingfba.com/edmundson You'll Learn:
How to avoid single-source dependency on Amazon How to build my own direct to consumer site To start with product and branding How to identify/focus on the customer avatar How you can work with changing websites over from one platform to another
Today we complete our interview with Stephen Pope of my Amazon guy, which is an Amazon full-service agency.
They deal with the unsexy stuff like catalog management, PPC as well as supply chain issues.
If you have lost shipments, Amazon owes you money, sign up for My Refund Guy for $500 of free clawbacks. You'll Learn:
The different shipping restrictions issues and solutions to them Why everything is in short supply now How to source locally How to control your own mechanisms
We are still with Steven Pope talking about how to manage merchandising and other things in your Amazon Seller Account.
Order a USA Trademark from My Amazon Guy for $775 and get your brand registry on Amazon in under 7 days.
https://myamazonguy.com/trademark-services/ You'll Learn:
About Brand Registry and Trademark How to get trademark registration How to get good at template uploads How to deal with uploads and avoiding issues
Steven Pope is the founder of My Amazon Guy, Amazon agency. He will talk about how a lot of people think that SEO is set it and you can forget it, he will make you think more objectively about your SEO goals.
Get A+ Content from My Amazon Guy for $1,000 USD.
Includes all of your ALT text SEO done at My Amazon Guy here.
You'll Learn:
The 3 Phase Program The importance of focusing on indexing first The goals of SEO The best practices to optimize your SEO ranking How to optimize your title
All of us get into e-commerce for the purpose of making a profit. It’s the first and most important goal. But it can be elusive. In this episode we’ll dive into the 7 Steps For Creating a highly profitable ecommerce company. What you’ll learn
How full-time ecommerce professionals answer the question, “how do you get more profitable” and how successful, but still part-time ecommerce sellers answer that question. Interesting insights from the recent Jungle Scout seller survey. A recap of Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz. 7 Steps to creating a highly Profitable Ecommerce Company
Alan is a Certified Public Accountant and one of the founding partners of FreeCashFlow.io a leading accounting and consulting agency based out of Los Angeles, California, combined 20 years’ experience - Alan worked at Ernst and Young.
Check out his Facebook page
Book a consulting call: https://www.freecashflow.io/book/
Check out our course Tax Free Ecom: HyperDrive Your After-Tax Profit here
Discount Promo: For the listening audience of Amazing FBA Podcast, we are offering an exclusive discount code of 20% off the Course Fee. Please use code “amazingfba-20”
Download your FREE checklists here:
Ultimate Guide to 9 of the Most Crucial ECOM Tax Deductions
Official Tax Planning Guide
You'll Learn:
The Marketplace facilitator agreement When to hire a professional Why you need sales tax planning About Income/Corporate Tax Why you need a specialist
Alan is a Certified Public Accountant and one of the founding partners of FreeCashFlow.io a leading accounting and consulting agency based out of Los Angeles, California, and they are focused on one niche and niche only: Online and Ecommerce business owners.
Check out his Facebook page
Book a consulting call: https://www.freecashflow.io/book/
Check out our course Tax Free Ecom: HyperDrive Your After-Tax Profit here
Discount Promo: For the listening audience of Amazing FBA Podcast, we are offering an exclusive discount code of 20% off the Course Fee. Please use code “amazingfba-20”
Download your FREE checklists here:
Ultimate Guide to 9 of the Most Crucial ECOM Tax Deductions
Official Tax Planning Guide
You'll Learn:
The Working Capital requirements What happens with poor management of inventory or receivables How to set up a CF projection How to Foresee costs The 3 things to look for in your cash flow projection
Creating your own product is a key to e-commerce business success. But it can be a long and complex process. In this multi-part episode Michael shares a 6-step process for creating your first unique product.
What you’ll learn
The 6 steps to creating a custom product
Meredith Kallaher helps small business owners expand reach and explode sales with conversion copywriting and digital ad strategies based in Miami Florida.
Get Donald Miller’s tool here You'll Learn:
The overview of the customer journey To clarify your customer avatar To define your problem To get the empathy piece better To define the transformation statement
Meredith Kallaher helps small business owners expand reach and explode sales with conversion copywriting and digital ad strategies she is based in Miami, Florida.
Get Donald Miller’s tool here You'll Learn:
How to create your brand story first Why a brand story matters How to define the problem How to get the empathy piece better How to define a transformation statement
Anthony Lee, the Amazon subject matter expert at Canopy Management is still with us, to talk about how to have an entrepreneurial mindset. Tune in for more.
You'll Learn:
How to play the odds intelligently To have a realistic idea of how much you can invest How to build in your contingencies How to get in front of more eyeballs
Anthony Lee, is the Amazon subject matter expert at Canopy Management, Anti Guru, Thought-provoking leader. He will talk about why the business models we think we’re operating on Amazon aren’t the ones that drive success and what to do about it.
You'll Learn:
What a good product depends on That the real issue is that "luck" is not accounted for The different approaches to mitigate the potential for loss That testing is also as important as research How important it is to stay lean
We are still with Jason Franciosa, talking about the effects of being customer-centric instead of just building your business to sell it. Aim for the best experience for loyal customers. To find out more, stay tuned.
You'll Learn:
How to expand website sales How to expand your distributors globally How to deal with Amazon ads How to protect yourself from copycats and from being attacked.
Jason Franciosa is the co-founder or CEO of element 26, which is a sporting goods brand focussed on helping functional fitness athletes destroy their PRs, not their bodies. He tells his story on how he rose up from being financially depleted from a failed venture to launching his business in the fitness space that made him over $1 million in 12 months.
You'll Learn:
About the Amazon traps and how to avoid them How important is having an expert in the business How Jason made his business more successful than his competitors How to have a loyal fan base or audience The comparison between Amazon customers vs core audience
Inflation is a subject often argued about by two sets of people whose opinions are at best limited in trust: economists (practitioners of the so-called “dismal science”) and STOCK market pundits on TV. It would lovely to be able to focus on running our ecommerce businesses undisturbed by seeming economic theory. Sadly, in the real world, inflation is hitting ecommerce leaders right now, very hard and every day. If we hope this all just goes away, we leave ourselves vulnerable to whatever comes next. As true business leaders, we need to see the waves coming and position our businesses to ride the wave, not get swamped!
In this special 2-part episode we break-down how inflation is impacting e-commerce and give listeners 10 things they can proactively do to manage this challenging situation.
You'll Learn:
How inflation is impacting e-commerce sellers. The impact of inflation on the ‘demand side’ of the ecommerce equation. The impact of inflation on the ‘supply side’ of ecommerce. 10 things you can do to proactively manage inflation in your e-commerce business.
We are coming into this second part of a discussion with Luke Havard from dwarf.io. They are basically the people that specialize in European-based Ecommerce businesses. And in particular, they work with Amazon-based businesses, but also non-Amazon businesses and some of the really attractive marketplaces. Hope you enjoy the show.
You'll Learn:
How do you pick a marketplace that is best for you? The different European marketplaces similar to Amazon How to build a database and webshop That quite a few sellers in Europe DON’T source in China What sells and doesn't sell in Europe
Luke Harvard from dwarfs.io. Dwarfs.io is a small fund based in Holland, they acquire e-commerce businesses, and they specialize in non-Amazon marketplaces and Europe. Learn how to be successful at selling in the European Ecommerce space.
You'll Learn:
How things work differently in UK/Europe compared to the USA How to have multiple channel streams To recognize the missed opportunities and expand into other countries or markets How to focus not only on what works now but also looking at future risks How to work with business owners in Europe
Inflation is a subject often argued about by two sets of people whose opinions are at best limited in trust: economists (practitioners of the so-called “dismal science”) and STOCK market pundits on TV. It would lovely to be able to focus on running our ecommerce businesses undisturbed by seeming economic theory. Sadly, in the real world, inflation is hitting ecommerce leaders right now, very hard and every day. If we hope this all just goes away, we leave ourselves vulnerable to whatever comes next. As true business leaders, we need to see the waves coming and position our businesses to ride the wave, not get swamped!
In this special 2-part episode we break-down how inflation is impacting e-commerce and give listeners 10 things they can proactively do to manage this challenging situation.
You'll Learn:
How inflation is impacting e-commerce sellers. The impact of inflation on the ‘demand side’ of the ecommerce equation. The impact of inflation on the ‘supply side’ of ecommerce. 10 things you can do to proactively manage inflation in your e-commerce business.
Rick Magennis - helps brands scale their business through “performance marketing” aka affiliate marketing (and set up or manage affiliate programs). We are still with Rick today to talk about how and where to start when you want an affiliate program for your product.
Check out his website: https://affiliateprogrammanagement.co
Get FREE access to their first event, Affiliate Management Expo HERE. It's 20 sessions on all things affiliate program management brought to you by industry veterans. The code for free access is AMAZINGFBA
As a special gift to the listeners of the podcast that are interested in starting an affiliate program Rick will do a 1-hour consultation session for free and then if they want me to set up their new program then He will do it for $500.
You'll Learn:
How to find out about your competitors in your Ecommerce space How to have a strategy around commission level How to pick the right tech platform for your business How to find affiliates To figure out who to target The mistakes with keeping partners engaged and motivated
Rick helps brands scale their businesses through Affiliate marketing and set up or manage affiliate programs. He will explain why you need to do affiliate marketing and what happens when you don't do it.
Check out his website: https://affiliateprogrammanagement.co
Get FREE access to their first event, Affiliate Management Expo HERE. It's 20 sessions on all things affiliate program management brought to you by industry veterans. The code for free access is AMAZINGFBA
As a special gift to the listeners of the podcast that are interested in starting an affiliate program Rick will do a 1-hour consultation session for free and then if they want me to set up their new program then He will do it for $500.
You'll Learn:
How to define affiliate marketing programs The reputation of affiliate marketing The difference between info marketing and ecommerce The reason why ecommerce shouldn’t be in the affiliate marketing game That any marketing channel can become affiliate marketing channel How to avoid the massive launch thing that makes revenue but not profits
Inflation is a subject often argued about by two sets of people whose opinions are at best limited in trust: economists (practitioners of the so-called “dismal science”) and STOCK market pundits on TV. It would lovely to be able to focus on running our ecommerce businesses undisturbed by seeming economic theory. Sadly, in the real world, inflation is hitting ecommerce leaders right now, very hard and every day. If we hope this all just goes away, we leave ourselves vulnerable to whatever comes next. As true business leaders, we need to see the waves coming and position our businesses to ride the wave, not get swamped!
In this special 2-part episode we break-down how inflation is impacting e-commerce and give listeners 10 things they can proactively do to manage this challenging situation. You’ll learn
How inflation is impacting e-commerce sellers. The impact of inflation on the ‘demand side’ of the ecommerce equation. The impact of inflation on the ‘supply side’ of ecommerce. 10 things you can do to proactively manage inflation in your e-commerce business.
We are still with Yoni Kozminski talking about the bigger picture planning for your business, and it's often something that entrepreneurs shy away from because they quite rightly think that just thinking too much and not taking action. Hopefully, we'll get you out of that hole.
Get the Amazon 2 Year Financial Planning Google Doc here for free! You'll Learn:
What direction you really want If everything is adding value all throughout How to hold yourself accountable to the reality that you want to create for yourself
Yoni Kozminski is the founder of MultiplyMii and Escala. He helps build a simple but clear vision of your business.
Get the Amazon 2 Year Financial Planning Google Doc here for free!
You'll Learn:
What the obsession is about revenue What we are growing If "growth" is even good What makes profits go down Why hustling harder not just work What people typically do after selling an Amazon business
Today, Robin Gaster will discuss where Amazon is heading and how does this affect 3rd party marketplace sellers.
You'll Learn:
How the retail platform side is continuing pressure to find income How 1P is focused on growth moving to profitability How retail businesses will be automated to a maximum extent The Goldrush of buying and selling brands on Amazon
Today we are still with Robin Gaster, he will talk about how Amazon is currently making its money. We will also talk about how Amazon reports its revenue which saves them a ton of money.
You'll Learn:
The most profitable area of Amazon How the changes within Amazon affects the third-party marketplace sellers How Amazon could lose 40B USD as a 1P seller The notion of brand in Amazon
Robin Gaster, is the author of “Behemoth Rising". He will be talking about why it is important to educate yourself about this stuff as a 3P seller or Ecommerce seller.
You'll Learn:
What Robin Gater wrote about in his book about the gig economy. About the nature of Amazon That Amazon doesn’t want compliance; they want belief That there is no protection offered in Amazon
We are still talking to Sara Barnes-Humphrey of Let's Talk Supply Chain today and after the epic, a literally global crisis that we're discussing the freight and logistics and supply chain industry, we talk today about some ways that you can mess up things with freight forwarders both importer or exporter and how to make life work better with freight forwarding and understanding the lives of those absolutely crucial people in the context of our business.
You'll Learn:
About the humanitarian crisis with seafarer's crews How the containers are going overboard About how to diversify manufacturing How logistic professionals are dealing with the changes
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, founder and host of Let’s Talk Supply Chain and CEO of Shipz.com a bid and ship platform for the ocean and air freight is with us today to talk about how Covid affected the shipping industry and businesses around the world and what to do about it.
You'll Learn:
About the problem behind the problem with freight The challenges with freight providers Why it is important to forecast events
Today we're going to talk about the marketing strategy on Shopify. We mentioned Shopify, but for Shopify, you can insert WooCommerce, big commerce, Magento, WordPress, whatever technical platform makes very little difference, just to be clear. And we're going to talk about USP and, and value proposition, the right offer at the right time, and some classic Shopify specific areas that Claus sees as well. Listen on for more!
Get a free 10-minute mini-site conversion optimization review here.
You’ll Learn:
What Conversion Optimization means Where to start in building optimization What to consider when creating a home page The classic errors when creating a home page What the typical mistakes with the overall structure of the website
Today we are still with Claus Lauter, talking about the marketing principles that are often just not there or done badly, and if you get it right, you really, really, really start to see an increase in that precious conversion percentage, which makes all the economics of your business work ultimately puts money in your pockets.
Get a free 10-minute mini-site conversion optimization review here. You’ll Learn:
What the classic errors are when you create a storefront About where the user journey actually starts How to offer the right information at the right time How framework works How to do the 5-second test on your storefront
Clause Lauter started with own startup in 2001 with a SaaS service, then got an offer in cape town in SA.
Today Claus will talk about how optimization work is wonderful and that you work once and get paid for a long time. So it's really fantastic from the cash flow perspective and sort of getting wins. Listen in to learn more.
Get a free 10-minute mini-site conversion optimization review here.
You'll Learn:
The classic mistakes online store owners make The Psychological Principles of CRO The other rules of thumb about UI/UX How tools like Hotjar, lucky orange help you with conversions How not to give discount codes in exchange for emails
We are still with Dave Storey from Elite FBA Exits. He's an Amazon seller who's built and sold his own seven-figure Amazon business and is now in the business of helping other people to really maximize the value of their business or make it sellable when it was provably previously pre pretty much unsellable. Even if you have no idea of selling your business in the next while or ever, if you've never considered it, I would urge you to listen.
Click Here to get the Exit Plan 55-point Checklist for FREE.
You’ll Learn:
The 4 main pitfalls that you see sellers falling into Tips on reducing the effects of not maximizing the time to sell To understand how a business is valued To know what work on in their exit strategy
Dave Storey started as a design engineer. Since selling his first FBA business and realizing how much value can be added by optimizing for maximum saleablity, he pursued the industry.
Click Here to get the Exit Plan 55-point Checklist for FREE. You'll Learn:
The underlying problem Dave sees with Amazon business owners Why exit strategies matter The upsides of getting it right That the best time to think about the end goal is at the start of the business Why creating a sellable asset outweighs just making a ton of cash
We are still with Jessica Totillo Coster of Ecommerce Badassery. Some of the most important points we are tackling are emailing and building a lot of content around that and the misconception that Shopify is a marketplace. We have more in store for you today so stay tuned.
You'll Learn:
The two parts of a business When talking to everyone means talking to no one How to give up being “all things to all people” How to show up as who you are and who you stand for How to get ourselves on the phone/zoom calls
Jessica Coster is an eCommerce and email marketing strategist for boutique owners and product entrepreneurs. She has been in the retail game for 20 plus years. Today we will tackle what makes sense for your business and basically decide what's going to make you money now and how to prioritize that.
You'll Learn:
How to focus on building a brand around your product How email fits into funnels The reality of transitioning from Amazon to Shopify/DTC How to capture leads/grow your list Compare Paid vs Organic traffic strategies How Amazon customers vs off Amazon customers work How to get people to the site Why people hide behind their logo
Jeremy Bell is the Chief M&A officer on Elevate and is passionate about helping our sellers achieve lucrative exits for their Amazon FBA businesses. Today we talk about the eight checkpoints that any business owner who's considering selling should be asking themselves about their buyer.
You'll Learn:
Why we need to ask the right questions when selling your Amazon business How to be on the lookout for when doing your due diligence on your potential aggregator/buyer If your buyer has a clear defined due diligence process
Jeremy Bell is the Chief M&A officer on Elevate and is passionate about helping our sellers achieve lucrative exits for their Amazon FBA businesses.
You'll Learn:
The classic mistakes that Amazon buyers do. About the earnout structure The earnout structure options available Which metric is best to evaluate business value Why sellers are getting more sophisticated /cynical
We are back with Chaim Morgan who is the Director of Business Development for RefundSniper. We are still in the middle of a discussion about refunds and getting money back, reimbursements. Listen for more.
You'll Learn:
How to do inbound shipping correctly The downsides of DIY reimbursement/refund work The classic error of not making sure the “machine” is working properly How this ties in with working ON your business not IN it How they service every market globally
Chaim Morgan is the Director of Business Development for RefundSniper. Hailing from a strong foundational background in the e-commerce and technology sectors, Chaim brings an extensive knowledge of the Amazon platform to the company. Find out how RefundSniper can be beneficial to your business.
You'll Learn:
How to reconcile your Amazon account Who RefundSniper is intended for What the typical sizes of reimbursements are The classic inventory management errors
Greg Reynolds is the founder and CEO of ZonSupport, they are customer care experts for Amazon.
Greg was originally from New Zealand but is currently in Thailand as a digital nomad.
Today we are going to discuss if Customer Service is just a commodity or is it something more?
Check them out here:
https://amazingfba.com/zonsupport
You'll Learn:
The times where you should be taking customer service emails/ tickets Why Native speakers matter even if they are typing not only speaking Why something as small as a product insert can take your business one step further How to begin with the end in mind The 3PL Fulfilment juggle stock How to improve your feedback score
Greg Reynolds is the founder and CEO of ZonSupport, they are customer care experts for Amazon.
Greg was originally from New Zealand but is currently in Thailand as a digital nomad.
He is going to talk to us about why we need to outsource customer service and many more!
Check them out here:
https://amazingfba.com/zonsupport
You'll Learn:
At what stage you need to be getting help How to use customer service as a learning tool How to be prepared for problems using email templates The mindset issues that hurt our business How to win a 5-star review without a problem
We are still with Michael Sirpilla is the co-founder of Encap33 an FBA Aggregator and Private Equity firm. We'll be talking about deal structures. The traditional deal structures you can get from aggregators through a broker and the sort of thing that the private equity company that Michael works for at Encap33.
You'll Learn:
The thought process that you should list with a business broker How to understand the individuals and what they will bring to the business The differences between M & A advisor, Aggregator and PE To prepare for future exit even if you’re not looking to exit yet To make sure you have financials in order
Michael Sirpilla is the co-founder of Encap33 an FBA Aggregator and Private Equity firm with a unique strategy of helping Amazon businesses get a premium multiple for their businesses.
He's going to talk about selling your business while it's thriving and not wait until you get tired of your business.
You'll Learn:
That you actually need to leave the business at the best point The difference between sellability vs value How to increase business value How much the business really need you in the day to day What are other best practices for increasing value Solving Pain points for Amazon sellers
Today we are still with Lo Martin from Elevate Brands. It is basically an aggregator to put it in simple terms that they roll up Amazon businesses. A really important starting point we will talk about are some practical things which are small loops. What do we need to put into place to make sense of the overall customer journey and many more.
You'll Learn:
That brand architecture is what the customer sees How to map the journey first then start building from the end point How we build out a process to implement marketing build-out When to start hiring people to implement these tasks How to have clear expectations when you lead Hiring In house vs freelance workers
Lo Martin (CMO) is one of the proud culture champions of Elevate Brands, Amazon FBA rollup ie buys up Amazon leading brands. Today she talks about building an ecosystem around a type of human being, building a tribe around an idea and creating communities around shared beliefs.
You'll Learn:
How to build a tribe What branding even means Why the Brand/ tribe building matters How to figure out the smallest loop for success and nailing that The value of the off Amazon sites
Our discussion continues with Chris Shipferling as he talks about how to have a pivot conversation instead of a "loser" conversation. How the landscape of opportunities is increasing, that there are more options for selling and valuations are expanding. You'll Learn:
How Private Equities now want to leverage in E-commerce How we shouldn't hide under the sand but be on top of it That the buyer universe expanding What the corporate strategics/PE are interested in How to deploy more capital towards making the Amazon advertising strategy better
Chris Shipferling from Global Wired Advisors is a part of the ecosystem of people who help built wonderful businesses to sell and realize their value. He is a managing partner of GWA, which is a lower middle market investment bank focused on e-commerce businesses.
If you want further insight into the market and where it’s going, and how your biz fits into that, reach out to us at www.globalwiredadvisors.com
Email cs@globalwiredadvisors.com You'll Learn:
The difference between a business broker and an M&A Advisor How they offer different products from a business brokerage process Why the process in GWA is different To define the size of a business by their cashflow
Today Jim Mann talks about aggregators and the red flags to look for. The tips he will give away today are priceless, he will dig into why you need to read the fine print when buying a business.
You'll Learn:
About broker's value propositions. The basic deal structures. The wrong perception in the marketplace is that Aggregators will offer twice as much money. What to look out for with Aggregators. Tips on due diligence when dealing with Aggregators.
Jim Mann is the Director of Acquisitions for UK of Thrasio, The world’s largest acquirer of Amazon and E-commerce brands. He started selling on Amazon in 2014 until 2020 and is now with Thrasio, he's going to give us insight on why it's a good time to sell your Amazon business sooner rather than later.
You'll Learn:
The reasons to sell your business. The benefits of selling now. Other reasons to get out of Amazon. Pricing and valuation post-Covid. How to value your business.
Ned Hakam is an 8-figure E-commerce seller and one of the partners at Umbrella Fund, an Amazon management company that buys and aggregates Amazon businesses.
You'll Learn:
The acquirer’s buyer’s perspective The 7 categories for Umbrella Fund Inventory management or restock process How to manage inventory dynamically The Customer base/subscription model The other biggest way to add value to your company How to have a strategic plan for growing portfolio
Hai Mag is an eCommerce Entrepreneur, Growth Leader, and Investor with experience in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Eva.
He was the former vice president of Oracle, he was in the enterprise software world for the last 20 years; Eva.guru is a platform to increase profits for Amazon sellers by restocking, repricing, reimbursement, and getting accurate profit numbers.
You'll Learn:
What the most important errors/information gaps are there to avoid How all the costs are dynamic, and therefore Dynamic pricing is inevitable The numbers that we should keep our eye on How Eva works to save you time and money
Hai Mag is an eCommerce Entrepreneur, Growth Leader, and Investor with experience in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Eva.
He was the former vice president of Oracle, he was in the enterprise software world for the last 20 years; Eva.guru is a platform to increase profits for Amazon sellers by restocking, repricing, reimbursement, and getting accurate profit numbers.
You'll Learn:
What to do on stock management & overall issues How Eva does profit analytics The defining difference between Artificial Intelligence and rules based software What factors Eva considers for repricing How Eva reprices to maximise profit How sellers get their money back into their Amazon account
Eco Brothers have a factory in Yunnan South China and they do custom packaging for Amazon sellers.
Simon marks out the reasons why packaging matters in online business. It not only gives customers their first impression of the product but gives them an unboxing experience which excites them and makes them feel good about the product.
If you want to get in touch with Eco Brothers, click here.
For more packaging ideas, check out Packaging Pro.
Learn how to make the difference your brand needs. Download the complete guide on how to choose the right materials, packaging structure, and art finishing for your brand:
Download the FREE slide here
You'll Learn:
Why packaging matters The big mistakes of packaging The kinds of paper/cardboard to use for the particular products That there is more demand for eco-friendly packaging How to save money by working on the dimensions of your packaging The best process for sourcing packaging The importance of Art finish visual differentiation
Today we have Costas Anastassiadis who is the head of business development for Storfund and Storfund is a company that helps accelerate E-commerce business growth globally via daily cashflow service.
They accelerate your scheduled Amazon disbursements. So they unlock the trapped liquidity. And in this way, you can grow faster and the novelty of this solution is that they can do that across 17 Amazon marketplaces. You’ll Learn:
What funding really is and how it relates to words like investment, debt, loans How funding compares with a bank loan The reason why Storfund exists To add value to clients What the characteristics of people who handle funding well are How they calculate currency conversion The pitfalls of the loan you thought would cost you 10% per annum will cost you a lot more
Brad talks about what aggregators are looking for when investors buy businesses. Learn that when you are building your brand, it can prove to be more beneficial in the long term.
You’ll Learn:
What you can outsource and still have a sellable business That investors aren't just buying the operations side, but the cashflow How to build a brand The issues that sourcing creates How to create the best operations for managing an E-commerce business
Brad Moss founder of Product Labs, provides managed solutions (technology as well as management) for Amazon sellers and brands selling on Amazon they also operate and acquire own brands on and off the Amazon platform.
Everybody underestimates running how hard Amazon businesses are! Whereas Brad’s team knows how to run Amazon.
You’ll Learn:
What it takes to get your business sellable If you are building a cashflow machine or a brand How to identify who wants your land or who wants your brand The to identify the value of the deal
Sean De Clercq is the CEO of Kickfurther.com. He has years of experience in the supply chain industry. When seeking financing for his merchandising company, he came up with the original idea behind Kickfurther, a marketplace for consignment.
We find out the best scaleable solution when it comes to funding a growing business. You’ll Learn:
If you should consider funding E-commerce businesses. What the difference is between “investing in” vs “funding” a business. The difference between equity and debt from the E-commerce business. What criteria they use to decide who to fund. What the minimum size of the business has to be to get funding.
Sean De Clercq is the CEO of Kickfurther.com. He has years of experience in the supply chain industry. When seeking financing for his merchandising company, he came up with the original idea behind Kickfurther.
We find out the best scaleable solution when it comes to funding a growing business.
You’ll Learn:
The problems with funding inventory. How the principle of "discounted purchase of future revenue" works. The difference between equity and debt from the E-commerce business. When to not fund inventory via debt. How Kickfurther works for your business. Criteria to get funding.
If you’re even considering selling your Amazon business, then it may be that you’re ready to sell!
Ben Leonard didn’t start thinking about it until it was time! That said that’s not the same as when you’re building a business TO sell. But if you’re running your business you’re feeling it’s time to sell, it’s time to prepare. You'll Learn:
When to know that you are ready to sell Understanding that it is never too early to prepare to sell Why it's better to work with a broker than go direct How to get to where you want in your business
Ben Leonard shares a Sonic the Hedgehog-inspired tip "Jump through hoops to get rewards", which means when you see a barrier in the road ahead the immediate reaction is “oh no another thing!”. But when you think about the barrier, it’s worth climbing over, by jumping through the hoops, doubled sales almost overnight
You'll Learn:
The importance of leading with empathy and authority How to build a sustainable asset you can build and sell The key lessons from scaling Understanding risk management How to have a defensive strategy on trademarks
Ben has built and sold a 7-figure eCommerce brand and their brokerage is based on twin pillars: Ben’s real-life lived experience. Ben is EcomBroker’s brand ambassador and digital marketer, along with his partner Allison Walker.
You'll Learn:
Strategies to scratch your own itch to start a PL business The ability to scale your business even without experience How to sell products that people would want to use Principles to survive, thrive, get ahead in the world How to write a listing that makes sense to target customer To position yourself as an authority on your topic
Damon Meredith talks about the things we need to get our brands into stores. While Amazon is keyword-driven, retail is more impulse-driven that is why it’s important to create products that respond to the environment. Make sure your product innovative enough to get into stores.
You'll Learn:
How to deal with Amazon driven products vs retail Find out the costs for developing a serious brand that could be retail ready How to access the right talent teams The services they offer to E-commerce business owners That you don't need 500k to start The standards you look for to make sure that you have cashflow
Damon is founder and CEO of Balletic - they are Brand and product developers looking to acquire and develop Amazon FBA brands and potentially push them through additional sales channels
Damon was a photographer and in the film industry. He later co-founded an Amazon FBA business. In this podcast, Damon will share his thoughts on strategies for retail branding.
You'll Learn:
The difference between typical FBA products and products that are suitable for sale to retailers How does channel diversification boost value in your brand The downsides of channel diversification The possibility of selling on Amazon and also to retailers
Sajag Agarwal was based in Chicago and an Amazon seller who earned up to 40k on his first year the moved to 1M on the second year then 2M on the third year. In 2017.
Sajag has a team of inspectors in China, he moved to Shenzhen and inspected his own products.
Today, he will be sharing his thoughts about the basics of quality control of your products for Amazon.
For tips on what you can do to prepare for your inspection, click here.
Learn more about Movley here. You'll Learn:
How does fraud & bribery work when it comes to inspections Reasons why people resort to fraud and bribery How to reduce corruption and the possibility of it How to come up with product tests at scale How to set up effective sample sizes - AQL The importance of creating feedback loops from customers into the supply chain
Having established that e-commerce newsletters are NOT an effective way of getting new customers or generating the revenue you could, we need an alternative. eCommerce email sequences are the answer.
Emily talks us through weaning ourselves off the mentality of overwhelming our customers once a week and moving to have a goal-oriented approach to e-commerce email marketing (just as we probably would automatically in other areas, like optimizing a sales page to sell our products!)
We also explore how to get under the skin of your customers and even prospective customers, so you can engage and entertain them. That way, you’ll develop empathy from understanding them better and win their all-important trust. We even examine the slightly intimidating but fascinating world of mapping out your customer journey. This is the ultimate way to tune the messages you’re sending out to where your customer is really at in his or her relationship with your brand, your company, and with you via your emails.
Emily McGuire of Flourish and grit runs an email marketing and automation studio, which helps businesses uncover hidden revenue in their email lists.
You'll Learn:
How do we replace our regular newsletters How to frame your content and offers to keep people engaged How to deal with prospective customers as opposed to actual customers More effective ways of structuring your email content How to balance between offers and content Difference between autoresponders “vs” broadcast Recommended email systems Automation strategy and process How to deal with customer journey ourselves
The word is in: we need an alternative to newsletters for e-commerce marketing.
That reintroduces an old friend in the world of e-commerce marketing. I’m not talking about today’s guest, Emily McGuire - I’ll introduce her later. No, I’m talking about my old friend, False Dichotomy. That’s when you’re presented with a false choice between two paths, neither of which is real.
Today’s false dichotomy is between “either” email newsletters “or” non-email marketing, like blogging, social media, video marketing, paid ads, etc., etc.
It’s a false choice. There is a third way.
Let’s be clear: according to all the stats (and today’s guest), email marketing gets the best ROI of ALL marketing by a LARGE margin.
So how come we need an alternative to (email) newsletters?
The clue is this: email marketing works like CRAZY for e-commerce - IF done right. However, email newsletters don’t work very well.
Today’s guest, Emily, offers us a third way. The way of e-commerce email marketing that works. And, according to Emily, we need an alternative to newsletters to make it work.
Follow me? If so...follow Emily down the rabbit hole with me...and let’s see how far this sucker goes...
You'll Learn:
Why growing an email list matters in e-commerce Why it also matters for amazon sellers What to do when you don’t have an email list of potential buyers The importance of listing your growth strategies Why you need to improve your site design for email setup How to create a great offer How to create a great opt-in/lead magnet Why you need to create a "painkiller" content How do we figure out who our customers are and want?
We continue our discussion of Amazon ads management with our guest, Ganesh Krishnan of AiHello.
Ganesh and his team have created an automated AI system to handle Amazon ads. They are driven by two imperatives: saving Amazon-based e-commerce companies money (and at the most extreme, from bankruptcy) and saving the managers of these companies time and effort.
Today we talk about the very cool idea of transferring the money keywords from your auto campaigns to manual campaigns with “automated keyword harvesting” - and even stealing your competitor’s top converting keywords! We also discuss how to choose a platform to manage your Amazon ads, and the choice between DIY, using automation, and using an ad agency.
For a 25% discount to monthly fees on all plans you can click this link:
https://amazingfba.com/aihello
Or you can enter the coupon AmazingFBA during checkout.
You'll Learn:
How to do Keyword Harvesting The importance of Target ACoS How to deal with organic ranking boost aspect cf ACoS How to choose an automation platform How does the choice around DIY vs automation platforms vs ad agency option Who is this for and who is not for Rule of thumb for campaigns The misconception around old campaigns
Are you cutting yourself on a double-edged sword?
There are several things in e-commerce life that can cut both ways. The entire Amazon platform is such a thing. But within that platform, there is probably one tool that causes more bankruptcies of small businesses than any other. That double-edged tool is the Amazon advertising platform. At least, that’s been the experience of our guest today, Ganesh Krishnan.
Ganesh and his team have created an automated AI system to handle Amazon ads. They are driven by two imperatives: saving Amazon-based e-commerce companies money (and at the most extreme, from bankruptcy) and saving the managers of these companies time and effort.
But how does it all go so wrong with Amazon ads? And what solutions can an automation system play in solving these problems? We get into the detail and peer under the proverbial hood!
For a 25% discount to monthly fees on all plans you can click this link:
https://amazingfba.com/aihello
Or you can enter the coupon AmazingFBA during checkout.
You'll Learn:
What AI Hello does Recommended Ad Budget Why it takes so long to get a return on ad spend Strategies for bidding How to approach managing an ad budget when it’s manual vs automation What Input you ask sellers for Amazon ads covered by AI Hello
Sajag Agarwal was based in Chicago and an Amazon seller who earned up to 40k on his first year the moved to 1M on the second year then 3M on the third year. In 2017.
Sajag has a team of inspectors in China, he moved to Shenzhen and inspected his own products.
Today, he will be sharing his thoughts about the basics of quality inspection for your products on Amazon.
For tips on what you can do to prepare for your inspection, click here.
Learn more about Movley here.
You'll Learn:
How to start the business inspection How does one bad order of only $3k pay for your inspections for 7 years Two kinds of most effective inspections Why mid-production inspection more dependent on risk tolerance The ups and downs of suppliers doing their own inspection The basics of quality control and product testing How to find inspection companies What to do when inspection fails
Sourcing products from India has long sounded attractive to oppressed Amazon sellers trying to find products that wouldn't just be sold cheaper the next month by a Chinese factory.
But the issue has been that Alibaba simply made it so easy to connect to a host of Chinese factories - and India had a reputation for difficult logistics.
Step forward Rural handmade goods. Billed as the “Alibaba for handmade” or perhaps better, “Etsy for businesses”, Rural handmade makes the connection between entrepreneurs selling in North America or Europe and the rural producers of the world, most especially in the Indian subcontinent.
The founder and CEO of Rural Handmade, Konark, talks to us about the nuts and bolts of how to develop a handmade product design, how to manage the stock, and how to deal with moving handmade products around the world with maximum efficiency.
You'll Learn:
How ordering a variety of SKUs at lower cost works The different ways of doing commission designs in products Why you should start on your supply chain The basics of Stock management How to split up a stock Why you need to improve your packaging and labels
Ah! China. The starting point… and the bane ….of every Amazon seller.
On the one hand, we've all learned to source from China as a source of an endless variety of products that can be efficiently manufactured and made reliably and in big quantities.
On the other, pretty much every Amazon seller has been around for a while now is that trying to compete on Amazon with Chinese factories is one of the hardest battles there is in business.
So what to do?
Well, one excellent solution is to source in India. Immediately, this gets around the trade tariffs the US put in place against the Chinese over the last few years.
But to stop there is to miss a huge opportunity.
Not only is there a trend against China from the US government, and a massive oversupply of cheap Chinese products on Amazon. There is a global backlash from consumers against mass-produced products and unethical sourcing.
Step in Rural handmade goods. Billed as the “Alibaba for handmade” or perhaps better, “Etsy for businesses”, Rural handmade is riding a global consumer wave towards ethical, local sourcing and sustainable materials.
The founder and CEO of Rural Handmade, Konark, talks to us about the opportunity all e-commerce sellers have to ride the trend by sourcing from smaller rural makers.
You'll Learn:
The COVID situation in India What Rural Handmade is trying to do Why people are becoming protective of their brands What people really want The importance of multiple branding The trends in handmade and Amazon in 2021
Considering that Amazon Japan is the world's third-largest Amazon marketplace, it is massively overlooked by most Amazon sellers. This means of course that those who get past the barriers to entry face a lot less competition! And lower competition means easier sales and higher profits.
Having solved the issues of language in listings and ads, the next issue to solve is importing into Japan. Again, with shipping times from China measured in days not weeks and within an effective VAT rate of only 10%, compared to the usual 20% coming into the UK or even higher in some European Union countries, there are many attractive aspects to exporting to Japan.
But it does help to have a native guide or at least one who really understands the practical steps needed to import into Japan. Enter John Cant of Rising Sun Commerce. John Cant has been using his Japanese cultural insights and connections to help Amazon sellers from the UK and North America to sell successfully in Japan for several years now.
You need an “importer of record” in Japan
Various 3rd party service providers offer this
Some freight forwarders offer this too
If you don’t have this, you’ll end up stopped at customs
You'll Learn:
Tax law in Japan Japanese VAT system The importance of not under-reporting Why you need to charge base on Sales price on Amazon Recommended products to sell and not to sell in Japan How to experiment in Japan
Sometimes you leave the door wide open for all your rival
Ultimately, we want to defend our real-estate
If a shopper makes it to our product page, we don’t want to lose them to competitors.
So it’s better to defend some of that real estate/air space.
Today, Brian Johnson from Canopy Management will share his thoughts about defending and stealing the Amazon market.
You'll Learn:
How to defend your product through "air space" How to steal market share through the listing Understanding Amazon Ad Options The importance of identifying complementary products
In this episode, Brian Johnson from Canopy Management will discuss how to make your products stand out from your competitors.
Brian has coached over 20,000 brands to sell better on Amazon.
Canopy Management is there to help brands to advertise and sell better to become the Category Kings of their niche.
You'll Learn:
Which stage of the marketplace is best to start Why shoppers have a very short attention span Where people go wrong with listings The main image blending in with the competition The key benefit of not being upfront How to make questions that lead buyers to your listing The importance of specifying the benefits more than the features
Marvin is a consultant/CEO of Ovalz, a free online inventory checking software.
He has more than 25+ years of experience building efficiencies, creating technology products, and implementing software. He is a solution-driven individual with a passion for creating new and better ways of doing things.
In this podcast, Marvin will share his thoughts on Working on your E-commerce Business rather than in it.
You’ll Learn:
How to work ON your business not IN it Knowing how to connect to your customer avatar How to build & market the offer Managing and optimising - staying in tune with customers Knowing the business behind the business processes
Considering that Japan is the world's third-largest Amazon marketplace, it is massively overlooked by most Amazon sellers. This means of course that those who get past the barriers to entry face a lot less competition! And lower competition means easier sales and higher profits.
But the barriers to entry do seem a little daunting at first. With a famously different culture to the West, and with three alphabets to wrestle with, Japan does seem a bit of a daunting prospect for those who don’t speak the language or understand the culture.
However, with shipping times from China measured in days not weeks and within an effective VAT rate of only 10%, compared to the usual 20% coming into the UK or even higher in some European Union countries, there are many attractive aspects to Japan as a market. Not least of which of course is the very much lower the competition level compared to the US, UK or even Germany.
As a former resident of Japan and husband of a Japanese wife, John Cant has been using his Japanese cultural insights and connections to help Amazon sellers from the UK and North America to sell successfully in Japan for several years now. He shares his latest insights into what is happening on Amazon Japan and how to solve the problems between you and a successful set of profitable products on Amazon Japan.
You'll Learn:
Why Amazon Japan? Current Amazon situation in Japan Japan's economic outlook What are the big barriers The 3 language barriers How to know that there's a market in Japan How to know what keywords to target The similarities and difference between the US and Japan The reviews in Japan Amazon ads in Japan
Marvin is a consultant/CEO of Ovalz, a free online inventory checking software.
He has more than 25+ years of experience building efficiencies, creating technology products, and implementing software. He is a solution-driven individual with a passion for creating new and better ways of doing things.
In this podcast, Marvin will share his thoughts on inventory management Ecommerce
You’ll Learn:
Mistakes that impact profitability the most The 3 Types of accuracies The 3 Types of stock errors The real problem behind the problem The stats around the true opportunity cost of inventory distortion How Ovalz work to cut down the manual process
Is no money down common? And if not, how do we deal with capital? Most deal structures are share swaps and dependent on how the business does going forward.
There’s a misconception it’s a cash buyers’ market
As for the property market - are there cash buyers out there? You might not find them for 10 years! Most deals are structured
In this episode, Richard will be sharing his thoughts about how to buy a business in the UK without money.
You'll Learn:
How leveraging C Bills became essential The ups and downs in putting your money down to start In-depth understanding of the Business Deal Structure The practicality of online businesses buying an offline business Recommended mindset for selling
Richard Tunnah started his online journey in '95 when he acquired a desktop computer (the size of a dining room table!) for about £4k and set up an online classified site. (pre craigslist and gumtree) which they sold in the late '90s. They then set up a website design company (where they had a hand coder!). They exited this business after 2 years and had an IT support company. They sold this and he started an e-commerce business. This was the early 2000's.
He approached a number of designer labels to sell their end of line stock and came to an agreement with Ralph Lauren and DKNY to sell their t-shirts on eBay. Spending about £1k a week and doubling that until people saw what he was doing and getting cheap copies from china when eBay wasn't strict on fakes.
He then started a business growth company focused on customer retention and customer reactivation campaigns. He has an Amazon best selling book on the subject.
He has also hosted a business podcast interviewing various business leaders. He has also been featured on CNN and US Today writing about business growth and branding.
He started to acquire companies about 3 years ago that he believes he can grow to the next level.
In this episode, Richard will be sharing his thoughts about how to buy a business in the UK.
You'll Learn:
Who is business acquisition for The misconception of acquisition The possibility of acquiring a business with less money The importance of Entrepreneur Tax Relief The advantage of Structured Deal Why the relationship to the seller is important
Let’s be real here. Amazon is dangerous to 3rd-party sellers. We are not dealing with a cuddly, friendly colleague. We are dealing with a shark-like, dangerous entity.
On the other hand, as one of our guests today said, “If you’re not on Amazon, you’re not on the internet.” On top of that, it doesn’t take a business genius to see that eCommerce growth in 2020 has simply exploded. Huge opportunity - and also big threats.
So if we need to be on Amazon to be visible in eCommerce but Amazon is dangerous to sellers, what do we do? How do we square that circle? Fortunately, there are some clear answers. To guide Amazon sellers through the rapids, we have a direct-to-consumer dream team:
Jason Boyce is the founder of Avenue 7 Media, an Amazon agency, and a former top 200 amazon seller for 17 years, with many 8-figure sales years.
Rick Cesari was direct to consumer marketing legend behind the Go-Pro camera and the George Foreman Grill, each of which became a Billion-dollar brand on the back of his groundbreaking TV work.
Together, we not only highlight the dangers of Amazon selling; we give an overarching solution that is not just a hack; it’s a strategy and set of principles that should enable us as Amazon sellers to stay ahead of the shark and take advantage of the amazing current eCommerce opportunities.
You'll Learn:
5 Strategies for building a great brand How to "always listen" The process to find Blue Ocean 5 Essential steps for finding a winning product The importance of validating the product Updates about Amazon margin How to make the listings do better
Let’s be real here. Amazon is dangerous to 3rd-party sellers. We are not dealing with a cuddly, friendly colleague. We are dealing with a shark-like, dangerous entity.
On the other hand, as one of our guests today said, “If you’re not on Amazon, you’re not on the internet.” On top of that, it doesn’t take a business genius to see that eCommerce growth in 2020 has simply exploded. Huge opportunity - and also big threats.
So if we need to be on Amazon to be visible in eCommerce but Amazon is dangerous to sellers, what do we do? How do we square that circle? Fortunately, there are some clear answers. To guide Amazon sellers through the rapids, we have a direct-to-consumer dream team:
Jason Boyce is the founder of Avenue 7 Media, an Amazon agency, and a former top 200 amazon seller for 17 years, with many 8-figure sales years.
Rick Cesari was direct to consumer marketing legend behind the Go-Pro camera and the George Foreman Grill, each of which became a Billion-dollar brand on the back of his groundbreaking TV work.
Together, we not only highlight the dangers of Amazon selling; we give an overarching solution that is not just a hack; it’s a strategy and set of principles that should enable us as Amazon sellers to stay ahead of the shark and take advantage of the amazing current eCommerce opportunities.
You'll Learn:
The dangers in Amazon and how you need a strategy How to pick a product The importance of storytelling in branding How Puria made it on Amazon How to beat Amazon in their own PL game
Creating Standard operating procedures helps businesses to run effectively and organized by making sure their workers know how to do their job properly. SOP's will help you minimize mistakes and time taken to train your new employee.
Today, Nathan Hirsch of Outsource School will help us understand more about SOP.
You'll Learn:
The different parts of the SOP The importance of identifying success Steps in creating SOP The things to be avoided The classic errors in making SOP How to make sure your VAs understand the SOP Why video SOP is important
Jeff Bezos’s letter to shareholders had hidden in plain sight the principles they had used to grow. Steve is even more convinced than when published that the principles can apply.
Steve Anderson is The author of “The Bezos Letters”, 14 principles to grow your business like Amazon and he will share his thoughts about Dynamic Invention
You'll Learn:
Amazon process that helps you decide to move forward The Structure Narrative Jeff Bezos' mindset The power of intuition and wandering How to implement Amazon's customer obsession
Jeff Bezos’s letter to shareholders had hidden in plain sight the principles they had used to grow. Steve is even more convinced than when published that the principles can apply.
Steve Anderson is The author of “The Bezos Letters”, 14 principles to grow your business like Amazon and he will share his thoughts about Dynamic Invention
You'll Learn:
Invention VS Innovation The process of Invention The tools for Invention Why you need to Experiment
3PL fulfillment for Amazon (using a 3rd party logistics warehouse to store products and send them to end consumers) has never been the preferred method for Amazon sellers. With some odd exceptions in the USA in Q4, Amazon’s FBA system has been fast, reliable, and affordable.
Until 2020 and the hit of COVID.
The huge increases in demand for eCommerce products in 2020 have been a boost for Amazon sellers.
Equally, it has caused major issues for the fulfillment of orders. Even Amazon’s mighty FBA infrastructure has, quite simply, been overwhelmed by the sheer demands on it.
Many Amazon/eCommerce business owners have taken 3PL fulfillment seriously for the first time this year. And rightly so. Done right, it makes sure you get the goods into the hands of your customers quickly and avoid losing out on sales by going out of stock. But done wrong, it can be a threat to your very ability to sell on Amazon. That’s a situation where expert advice is called for. Lifelong freight expert, Amit Rosenthal, talks us through the options and the downfalls in FBM.
You can also learn about: Can Amazon FBA services be considered as third-party logistics (3PL) fulfillment prep sellers? You'll Learn:
Reasons for doing FBM Risks of FBM How to handle order management and linking FBM warehouse to Amazon How to keep an accurate inventory in 3PL When should you use Long and short-term storage
So we know that Amazon sellers want to get off Amazon. The scale, fast growth, and convenience don’t quite outweigh the fear of their best-selling product, or even their entire account, being suspended overnight.
But what about international selling? What are the options, and the best practices in finding off Amazon channels in a global marketplace?
Chris Scrimgour of Payoneer is heading up (for the UK and Western Europe) an exciting new programme of partnership with multiple new marketplaces. We address some of the challenges and get some common sense around international e-commerce sites as part of diversifying your business off Amazon.
You'll Learn:
How to know where to sell How to reach out to marketplaces Why are marketplaces so strict Things that marketplaces are looking for How to plan a rollout How does Payoneer Green Channels work Do's and dont's for international e-commerce
With Green Channel acting as the matchmaker between sellers and marketplaces, Payoneer ensures sellers are onboarded efficiently as well as receive special attention from the marketplaces they’re introduced to. This can include special discounts on commission rates, free ads packages, a global ecosystem of support for logistics, warehouse, ERP, local influence, and traffic. Of course, having received Payoneer’s stamp of approval, marketplaces are keen to work with those sellers who come highly recommended. This whole process makes the transition to selling on a new marketplace much quicker and smoother.
Click below to find out more
https://amazingfba.com/payoneer
Let’s be honest here. Most Amazon sellers at some point want to get off Amazon. In short, they have a love-hate relationship with Amazon. They love the scale, fast growth and convenience of selling on Amazon. But above all, they are afraid. Afraid of the risk of their best-selling product, or even their entire account, being suspended overnight.
For those using FBA, they are now either worried that they will not be allowed to ship enough units into Fulfilment Centres; or they are worried that once there, their products might languish for weeks under the twin pressures of Q4 and COVID.
So how to derisk? And more positively, how to build an off-Amazon brand that creates a real feel of a legitimate brand? And can lead to higher multiples for your business sale?
One major answer is to expand to off Amazon sales channels.
Chris Scrimgour of Payoneer is heading up (for the UK and Western Europe) an exciting new programme of partnership with multiple new marketplaces. We get a few tantalizing glimpses of what’s out there and address some of the practical challenges involved in genuinely diversifying your business off Amazon.
You'll Learn:
What marketplaces are out there Where you can start based on aspirations and capabilities How to decide what marketplace is fit for you The minimum you need to have in place for stock management across multiple marketplaces The things you need to have in place to be able to do this at a bigger scale
With Green Channel acting as the matchmaker between sellers and marketplaces, Payoneer ensures sellers are onboarded efficiently as well as receive special attention from the marketplaces they’re introduced to. This can include special discounts on commission rates, free ads packages, a global ecosystem of support for logistics, warehouse, ERP, local influence and traffic. Of course, having received Payoneer’s stamp of approval, marketplaces are keen to work with those sellers who come highly recommended. This whole process makes the transition to selling on a new marketplace much quicker and smoother.
Click below to find out more
https://amazingfba.com/payoneer
Importing for Amazon FBA has always had its challenges. That’s particularly always been true coming into Q4 when volumes have traditionally increased.
However 2020, while the sales side in e-commerce has been amazing, has brought considerable challenges to the game of Amazon importing. Since 90% of importing for Amazon USA or European Amazon marketplaces is from China, that’s the main issue to solve.
Let’s face it, importing, while necessary, is rarely the latest exciting topic among Amazon podcasts. But given the sheer loss of profit that results from going out of stock, managing supply chains is critical to that rather more exciting thing - making (and keeping) money in your e-commerce business.
Get a handle on your importing woes, and you massively improve your business. That’s especially so if you can speed up inventory while keeping a lid on costs.
So what are the main freight options? And how does using a Freight Forwarder help to solve all the issues that come up?
Amit Rosenthal is literally a born and bred freight forwarder. From his international perspective in Israel, he guides us through the options and the pitfalls in this critical area.
You'll Learn:
The differences between freight options China to the USA The ups and downs of Air and Sea express How you can save shipping costs How to monitor stocks Different holidays to look out for in China
CJ Rosenbaum of AmazonSellersLawyer.com talks about Amazon highjackers and how to handle them. You'll Learn:
What is a Hijacker How to apply The First Sale Doctrine Different Post Sale benefits How to deal with Hijackers Basics of Lawsuits How to put the defense ring around our brands on Amazon The importance of getting your infrastructure in place How to protect ourselves from our own factories Hot to contract factories in China
One of the biggest fears you’ll face as an Amazon seller is account suspension. CJ Rosenbaum of AmazonSellersLawyer.com talks about Amazon suspension risks and how to avoid them. You'll Learn:
How to monitor listings The fallout from Amazon releasing information Solutions for multiple accounts "Used Sold as New" Suspensions The risks of Order Defect Rate Suspension Period
Has Amazonsellerslawyer, for the last several years, we have been able to be delightfully lazy and not have to think about fulfilling orders.
Sure we have had to get products into the FBA Centres. But once they’re there, Amazon has done an incredible job of making sure they get to the customer on time and with high accuracy of orders.
Sadly, those easy days are coming to an end. With a giant increase in demand in 2020,
Amazon’s fulfillment system is simply getting overloaded. Many sellers have found that they have been restricted by Amazon to a low Humber of units per product.
Others have found that Amazon at times simply didn’t have the capacity to fulfill the goods at all quickly.
All of which points to one solution: Fulfilled By Merchant. But was is that, and how does it work?
Waleed of Shiphype talks is through the does and don’ts of FBM
You'll Learn:
Why FBA new restrictions matter? The difference between FC and warehouse vs “3PL” The benefits of a FC as opposed to a warehouse Questions to ask on FC The cost components of a Fulfilment Centre Do’s and Don’ts of Fulfillment Centre
Many Amazon Sellers I’ll be taking huge risks with their ability to sell on Amazon at all without even realizing it.
If you are sending products directly from your manufacturer into an Amazon fulfillment centre without preparing them properly, you risk Amazon rejecting the shipment. Even worse, if the goods get into the warehouse and then they get completely snarled up, it’s a real mess. Often a listing will be suspended.
Worst case scenario, you have to ship them back out to a prep warehouse, fix the issue then ship them back in. Not fun!
or… you could make sure they are prepared properly yourself. Which takes considerable time and effort...but will teach you no useful skills for the future.
This is where a 3PL comes in. Waleed of Shiphype talks is through the does and don’ts of working with a 3PL and amazon prep.
You'll Learn:
Reasons why you need a 3PL Why you need a prep centre How to prepare a certain way for FBA Why location matters most Avoiding Sales Tax states for OA
There is no question: e-commerce demand has grown unbelievably in 2020. Many platforms or sellers have hit their 5-year targets in 5 months!
But every opportunity comes with its challenges and increased e-commerce sales volume is the same. The amount of demand on the entire global supply chain has caused capacity to be reached and - for the moment (in late 2020) prices to hit unusual heights.
While we wouldn’t wish it, though, this situation actually forces us to put better supply chain management in place. The smart Amazon sellers are educating themselves about the details of international importing, guided by their expert Freight Forwarders.
Neil Curran of Regional express, a highly experienced Freight Forwarder based in the UK, is here to give his insights from years of helping eCommerce businesses (many based outside Europe) imports into the UK and Europe
You'll Learn:
Current freight issues Alternatives to Freight Freight timings and costs Basic principles in importing from the EU to the UK Advantages of using 3PL warehousing in the UK Take advantage of the CoVid situation Neil's best practices in logistics
Whatever other emotions the word “Brexit” is associated with, “Fun” is probably not among them. Particularly not among eCommerce sellers! But the reality is that, with under a month to go to the end of the Transition Period, all eCommerce sellers need to prepare for likely import and export complications and costs.
Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Neil Curran, a highly experienced Freight Forwarder based in the UK. While the prep may not be fun, it does at least ensure that you can continue to trade. Done well, it can also minimize the costs you’ll incur. And the silver lining to the cloud is that if your business deals with it, and your competitors don’t - you get to sell while they are out of stock or losing money!
We discuss sorting the infamous EORI numbers, avoiding the dreaded “Double Duty”, and how to use split shipments to work around the problem and keep yourself in stock.
You'll Learn:
Logistics during Brexit from the UK to Europe The importance of Split Stock to Origin Full Container Load VS Less than Container Load How to prepare for Brexit next year Application for EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number)
Will Tjernlund is the co-founder and a managing partner at Goat Consulting. He started his career at his family's 80+ year old manufacturing company with the intention of expanding on Amazon and E-Commerce.
Today, he will be sharing about fulfillment and courier services. You'll Learn:
How to take advantage of the competition as E-Commerce sellers Different things that does not scale in E-Commerce Will's Blue Collar thinking Opportunities on customer behavior change The biggest threat on Amazon How to deal with big consumer brands with big budgets Differences of Corporate bureaucracy and scrappy
Selling on Amazon seems like a business model in itself and of course it is. But it’s obvious that the skill set you learn by running your own business could potentially be used and indeed monetised to serve other peoples businesses.
Quite a lot of sellers have a wish to start monetizing in another way than just selling physical products. Maybe you’re one of them.
But what is that journey actually look like from the inside? And what are the main issues that you have to overcome to actually make this a reality?
As someone who has gone on the journey from seven figure Amazon seller to agency owner, John Cavendish of Seller Candy shares what got him started, the original problem that he ran into for the first 18 Months, and how he has now systematically solved that problem. Since this is one faced by all new agency owners, if you’ve ever considered this path, you’re going to learn some great strategic insights from the front line in this episode.
“Today’s episode is sponsored by Payoneer, the international payment experts - your passport to global growth.
To find out more, click here”
You'll Learn:
Why John started an agency Why making impact on people is important The errors that John went through in starting his business How Sales has become significant to John The importance of selling Amazon consulting How John went from mess to success Tips on selling coaching The lessons John learned from starting an agency
Other interviews of John Cavendish:
Amazon Account Management with John Cavendish of Seller Candy Running an Agency with John Cavendish of SellerCandy The SellerCandy Services with John Cavendish Translate Amazon Listing or Website with John Cavendish of FBA Frontiers Amazon Europe – How to Access it with John Cavendish of FBA Frontiers Top 7 Problems in Amazon Seller Central Accounts and how to solve them with John Cavendish of Seller Candy
“Today’s episode is sponsored by Payoneer, the international payment experts - your passport to global growth.
To find out more, click here”
Will Tjernlund is the co-founder and a managing partner at Goat Consulting. He started his career at his family's 80+ year old manufacturing company with the intention of expanding on Amazon and E-Commerce.
Today, he will be sharing his thoughts about Amazon growing pains in fulfillment issues. You'll Learn:
What Jeff Bezos did and was aiming to do Amazon issues regarding FBM ans SFP Threat fulfillments third party sellers on Amazon Best practices on how to handle fulfillment Methods of setting up software for multi channel fulfillment How to troubleshoot review of data manually
Will Tjernlund is the co-founder and a managing partner at Goat Consulting. He started his career at his family's 80+ year old manufacturing company with the intention of expanding on Amazon and E-Commerce.
Today, He will discuss and give insights for B2B companies going B2C.
“This episode is sponsored by Capital Advance from Payoneer. This gives you working capital to spend on anything that helps you grow your business - like more inventory or more advertising!
Offers feature a single fixed fee and a gradual settlement plan.
Click here for a free consultation with a working capital expert today”
You'll Learn:
The most common issues that businesses are hitting right now The importance of legacy systems Tips for businesses who are starting from scratch The possibilities of letting go of sunk costs How to provide better value How to apply these in real life How to get your mind around Systems thinking How much should we spend on advertising in 2021 Best practices from bigger businesses
“This episode is sponsored by Capital Advance from Payoneer. This gives you working capital to spend on anything that helps you grow your business - like more inventory or more advertising!
Offers feature a single fixed fee and a gradual settlement plan.
Click here for a free consultation with a working capital expert today”
Strategic Quitting, Sunk Costs & eCommerce Business Owners "Quitters Never Win" Vince Lombardi said "Quitters never win. And winners never quit." I think that is quite wrong. Today, I want to talk about why Lombardi was so wrong and why quitting can be a powerful strategic action that underpins massive success.
Yes, you heard right.
Giving up in the face of adversity is often the sign of weakness you believe it to be. And yet...Strategic Quitting can be one of the most powerful, positive things we ever do in our lives and businesses.
"What?!" I hear you exclaim. Well, let me explain.
Ecommerce success - and the Strategic Quitting that often lies in the past E-commerce is exploding at the moment. That means that many of us see crazy numbers posted all the time by power sellers in Amazon.
And we're very aware of that. Those of us who are members of communities of serious sellers are seeing our colleagues businesses exploding. You may be lucky enough to be seeing them in your own business!
I've had the lucky position in the 10 K collective mastermind of observing over the last three years. How several of the members businesses have grown from $1 million run rate to triple that. And that's before Q4 even kicks in. And we've even witnessed one member smash through the eight figure run rate ceiling. By the way, this was at a healthy profit too.
Now these results are all very impressive. And the entrepreneurial energy strategy and street smarts behind that are equally impressive. But I behind the perseverance and stamina and hard work, there are some less glamorous, but equally essential abilities. Including the ability to know when to quit. Learning the right lessons There are some experiments that were less, certain, less impressive. And experiments is really a polite way of saying, finding out what works. Which ends up looking like an overnight spectacular success. It takes a lot of trying things that didn't work
Danger in such situations is to take the wrong lessons from the very impressive activities of the entrepreneurs. Sometimes, of course the entrepreneurs themselves are not aware of the reasons for their own success.
Yes, perseverance energy and focus are obviously critical in any challenging activity.
Business sport or performing arts spring to mind as challenging activities. Having experienced classical music and London theatre worlds in the past, I've seen similar patterns in business hyper- growth companies.
All take a huge amount of persevering through difficulty. No question. Also, money is important, particularly of course, in business.But persevering with what? Using energy, for what things? Focusing on which things? And spending money on which areas?
I know for a fact that one of the businesses that smashed the eight-figure Mark recently that I've personally worked with would never have got there if they hadn't quit. Not quit being in business. Not quit the category of products they are in. But quit persevering with a business model that business used to run, that was pretty much broken. If they hadn't stopped putting energy into failing way of doing things, if they hadn't, in other words, quit a lot of things. The Heretical Truth: (Strategic) Quitting is Essential to Winning So that's why today I want to talk about quitting. It's a very unsexy topic. It's even seen as something a bit shameful. And it's even kind of heretical, if you believe in the American dream as a kind of almost religion for entrepreneurs. And yet, I think it's a very important topic. I'm not talking about quitting in the face of difficulty challenge or pain. That's clearly not the route to success. What I'm talking about is a concept called strategic quitting.
For which I thank Seth Godin, the wonderful Seth Godin. Quitting is a bit like the sort of photographic negative of succeeding, the opposite of succeeding. What it does is make mental space, focus, energy,
Amazon business owners often not only know they could sell their business; they really want to sell and make a big payday for themselves.
Then the question is: what do I need to do as a business owner to make my business sellable?
There’s a lot of discussion among Amazon business owners, but that can sometimes be the blind leading the blind….
Most of us know by now that we need to clean up the books and make the profits look good. But there is a lot more sophistication needed to get top dollar.
Wall Street veteran, Jason Somerville, and Digital business Mergers & Acquisitions expert, Chris Shipferling, see both sides of this equation.
Jason in particular brings the buyer’s perspective, while Chris has worked with multiple FBA business owners to get their business in a position to be really sellable, and for a good price.
They talk us through their high-level, yet insightful overview of what you as an FBA business need to be working on to make your business a truly hot property in an exploding market. You'll Learn:
The 3 things you should be thinking to to formulate an exit strategy The importance of financial and date organization How to understand buyer's perspective The importance of Product roadmap Where to expand the product set Where to find consumers to convert in a specific vertical To understand the opportunity of the Brand The importance of Channel Strategy
Why should an “ordinary” Amazon business owner be interested in the capital markets of Wall Street or the City of London?
It’s all too easy for Amazon business owners to assume there is only one way to make money from their business - running it for profit.
The truth is that there is MUCH more opportunity out there now.
There has been a lively market in Amazon FBA businesses for several years now. Many Amazon sellers - including personal friends of mine - have sold businesses for high 6 or 7 figures; many other sellers we work with are gearing up for their own sale. However, recently that market has stepped up several gears at once.
The great news is that the market for FBA businesses is now a seller’s market. The COVID situation, horrible as is medically and economically, has created a wonderful combination for ecommerce. On the one hand, consumers shopping from home has created exploding demand for ecommerce, leading to huge revenue growth for many Amazon sellers. On the other hand, ecommerce’s higher profile has lead those in the Capital markets to become very aware of ecommerce businesses as an asset class.
There is further good news: even at higher valuations, FBA businesses still look great value to investors compared to many alternative business types. Wall Street veteran, Jason Somerville walks us through how things are shifting and explains the amazing opportunity Amazon business owners have in front of them right now.
“Today’s episode is sponsored by Payoneer, the international payment experts - your passport to global growth.
To find out more, click here”
You'll Learn:
The effects of demands as it gets stronger through out the years The changes on the FBA space Why Supply has become one sided How FBA businesses stack up against other digitally native enterprises The changes of consumer behavior How FBA businesses are still better valued than 2-3 years ago
“Today’s episode is sponsored by Payoneer, the international payment experts - your passport to global growth.
To find out more, click here”
Amazon Seller Central is a famously messy and strangely organised interface for Amazon sellers to grapple with. Because it’s so complex, there are a few simple errors that many Amazon sellers can make that can either endanger their accounts or cost them a lot of unnecessary money.
Fortunately, help is at hand. John Cavendish of Seller Candy has audited many client seller central accounts as part of running his agency and they come across the same mistakes again and again.
In today’s episode we cover the seven most classic mistakes made by Amazon sellers in their Seller Central accounts and how to correct them.
Listen to this episode to check whether you might be making any of these -it might just save you a lot of money or stress!
You'll Learn:
The importance of inventory placement service Why image dimensions should not be taken for granted The effects of not using of coupons How SellerCandy manages PPC The 4 types of bids How to handle lingering negative seller feedback The 2 types of clients How SellerCandy hire people
Other interviews of John Cavendish:
Amazon Account Management with John Cavendish of Seller Candy Running an Agency with John Cavendish of SellerCandy The SellerCandy Services with John Cavendish Translate Amazon Listing or Website with John Cavendish of FBA Frontiers Amazon Europe – How to Access it with John Cavendish of FBA Frontiers Monetising your Amazon skillset by John Cavendish
Okay, so you’re an Amazon 3rd Party Seller and you’ve decided that using Amazon ads (formerly AMS) could boost your sales and your business. Now how to start?
You could plunge into the 100s of technical podcasts, blog posts and youtube videos. But if you’re new to the whole ad platform, that’s going to be overwhelming. Instead, let us walk you through the basics and give some simple but battle-tested guiding principles for practical action to boost your sales. You’ll learn
How long tail keywords can win you big markets…over time Why advertising matters – and what it CAN’T do for you… The 3 main ways that Amazon ads help your product rank organically Why this “second order” effect is your PRIMARY goal with Amazon ads The “red herring” metric to AVOID using – and what to use instead The most cost effective way to use Amazon Sponsored Brands The power of video ads and how they fit into the Amazon ad world Evaluating your personal style and how this impacts your ad strategy Jason’s “Magic Trick” to get cheap exposure for your brand
Resources on Amazon Advertising
https://advertising.amazon.com/ – the login to amazon advertising (& Amazon’s explanations) Google Ad Quality Score Definition Helium10 Amazon Research Tool Suite Viral Launch Amazon Research Suite Merchantwords Google (and possibly Amazon) keyword suggestion & search volume tool Keyword Inspector (Reverse ASIN tool -meaning that you put in the ASIN -Amazon ID number – of a product into the tool and it gives a list of keywords for which the product is ranking)
Interviews with Amazon Ads experts on 10K Collective podcast:
Amazon ad management with Brian Johnson of Canopy Management Amazon Advertising and profits with Mike Zagare of PPC Entourage Amazon Sponsored Brand ads with Ritu Java of PPC Ninja
Okay, so you’re an Amazon 3rd Party Seller and you’ve decided that using Amazon ads (formerly AMS) could boost your sales and your business. Now how to start?
You could plunge into the 100s of technical podcasts, blog posts and youtube videos. But if you’re new to the whole ad platform, that’s going to be overwhelming. Instead, let us walk you through the basics and give some simple but battle-tested guiding principles for practical action to boost your sales.
As an additional resource, Check out this guide about Marketing Your Small Business. You’ll learn
What Amazon ads are – and the options What Amazon advertising can do to boost your sales The make-or-break relationship between the ads and product listing The hidden power of “intent” – what it is, why it matters How to find additional keywords – without overhelm How low price points impact the economics of advertising The simplest way to set up Amazon ads How to get Amazon to do the heavy lifting for you The simple hack to find the best keywords for your Amazon listing The one tool that covers pretty much all your keyword research needs The critical importance of 3 financial numbers Why low price points can kill your profit
Resources mentioned
https://advertising.amazon.com/ – the login to amazon advertising (& Amazon’s explanations) Google Ad Quality Score Definition Helium10 Amazon Research Tool Suite Viral Launch Amazon Research Suite Merchantwords Google (and possibly Amazon) keyword suggestion & search volume tool Keyword Inspector (Reverse ASIN tool -meaning that you put in the ASIN -Amazon ID number – of a product into the tool and it gives a list of keywords for which the product is ranking)
Interviews with Amazon Ads experts on 10K Collective podcast:
Amazon ad management with Brian Johnson of Canopy Management Amazon Advertising and profits with Mike Zagare of PPC Entourage
Today’s guest, Diane Boerstler, is known as The Hypnotic Amazon copywriter. She has helped small family businesses make over 5 BILLION dollars over 12 years and is master NLP certified. And that NLP/hypnosis background gives Diane a powerful framework in understanding consumers.
Once you’ve got a genuinely differentiated product, the next temptation is just to copy your competition and - if you’re a bit more imaginative - change what is in the end a formulaic way of writing copy and choosing images.
But to really have great conversion rates, prices and profits - you need something more sophisticated. Diane’s background as a therapist and special needs teacher and in NLP has given her a powerful understanding of what really drives human behaviour - including that of consumers on Amazon. Diane shares with us her highly powerful 5-part framework for understanding human drivers. We also highlight the importance of identifying the culture of the buyers you’re selling to, and how geography and culture intersect in USA for Amazon sellers.
You'll Learn:
How environment affects decision making Examples of things that affects your decision How quantity matters The ethical side of NLP The proper mindset of NLP
Helpful link: 126 point checklist on 12-hour training
www.amazingfba.com/dianeB
How to contact Diane: diane@amazonsalesguru.com
YouTube - Hypnotic Amazon Copywriter - Get all the trainings for free!
8 types of titles How to get the best keywords 126 point checklist 12 hours of training! There is also a Facebook group
Today’s guest, Diane Boerstler, is known as The Hypnotic Amazon copywriter. She has helped small family businesses make over 5 BILLION dollars over 12 years and is master NLP certified. And that NLP/hypnosis background gives Diane a powerful framework in understanding consumers.
Once you’ve got a genuinely differentiated product, the next temptation is just to copy your competition and - if you’re a bit more imaginative - change what is in the end a formulaic way of writing copy and choosing images.
But to really have great conversion rates, prices and profits - you need something more sophisticated. Diane’s background as a therapist and special needs teacher and in NLP has given her a powerful understanding of what really drives human behaviour - including that of consumers on Amazon. Diane shares with us her highly powerful 5-part framework for understanding human drivers. We also highlight the importance of identifying the culture of the buyers you’re selling to, and how geography and culture intersect in USA for Amazon sellers.
You'll Learn:
How Diane started with NLP What is NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programme) How NLP is relevant in Amazon What kinds of problems are solved How to know what people wants The 5 Logical Levels The 2 different types of people to sell to
Helpful link: 126 point checklist on 12-hour training
www.amazingfba.com/dianeB
How to contact Diane: diane@amazonsalesguru.com
YouTube - Hypnotic Amazon Copywriter - Get all the trainings for free!
8 types of titles How to get the best keywords 126 point checklist 12 hours of training! There is also a Facebook group
Watch Hypnotic Copy for Amazon with Diane Boerstler Part 1
Today’s guest, Diane Boerstler, is known as The Hypnotic Amazon copywriter. She has helped small family businesses make over 5 BILLION dollars over 12 years and is master NLP certified. And that NLP/hypnosis background gives Diane a powerful framework in understanding consumers.
The words used to sell products have always been a key part of distance selling. Selling via words goes all the way to the catalogues in the 1890s using the rail network of the USA - the original “net” connecting America.
Is copywriting still important in 2020 and beyond and on Amazon? It turns out from our guest’s result - yes! Hugely, in fact.
Diane has helped her clients sell 5 BILLION dollars of products as a copywriter. But the temptation is always to hire a great copywriter or generally really on great copy and images to sell a product. While that - the marketing - is a key piece, in modern Amazon it’s so critical to think through clearly how to make a different product before even trying to sell it.
Most sellers start with keywords. Important as those are, for Diane, everything - product development or marketing - starts with human psychology. We talk through how to easily get human feedback on what people want BEFORE you go sourcing a product. Above all, how to identify who your best buyers are and what really makes them tick; and how to sell your product to them elegantly and in the end, for a higher price - and profit!
You'll Learn:
What to look for in a product Where to find out what people want How copywriting increases conversions The characteristics of a a genuine premium product What to avoid in selling your product The importance of qualitative research The importance of reading Amazon reviews The significance of comparing your products to the customer's needs
How to contact Diane: diane@amazonsalesguru.com
YouTube - Hypnotic Amazon Copywriter - Get all the trainings for free!
8 types of titles How to get the best keywords 126 point checklist 12 hours of training! There is also a Facebook group
Watch How to Understand your Amazon Customers with Diane Boerstler
Arjun Rai, Founder and CEO of HelloWoofy.com, A Smart Marketing Dashboard for Underdog Marketeers aka SMBs. In his twenties, already a serial entrepreneur. This is his second venture-backed startup in the tech space.
In ecommerce, we may not have the same radical concepts or technologies to offer as a new SaaS (software as a service) business. However, we are still trying to break through the noise of the market, the competition and reach a set of consumers who will love our products.
One of the things we discussed is the danger of getting tunnel vision. I certainly see enough Amazon sellers who only think about selling physical products on Amazon. That’s missing a whole opportunity that is intimately related to our core business.
We discuss several ways you could serve the same customers with other forms of products; how to think small and global at the same time; and three big-picture lessons to all startup entrepreneurs. You'll Learn:
How Arjun started Hellowoofy The importance of Adding value/feature level How to become a one-stop shop How Covid accelerated the business How Arjun deal with constraints on fulfilment The difference between tunnel vision vs focus
Resources Mentioned:
Hellowoofy, Create marketing content automatically using data science.
Social media is pretty unavoidable these days for any business model. If you're in the business of selling to consumers, especially at an impulse-buy price point, you simply have no choice but to get good at the skill set. If you're in e-commerce or Amazon selling, that means you!
However, one of the biggest problems with creating micro content for social media, as Gary Vee puts it, is in creating a scalable way to do this and to avoid driving yourself crazy! Creating content takes energy and thought; scheduling is a pain. Dealing with the various platforms’ rules is an additional friction point we could all do without.
There have been various scheduling tools that have worked for social media to this point Hellowoofy.com is based on an interesting concept from the founder Arjun by which aims to take this a step further. Not only does it integrate analytics into the system but also uses artificial intelligence to help complete the content itself.
Here we discuss with Arjun Rai, Founder and CEO of HelloWoofy.com, what the challenges are with social media marketing, what platforms it works with, and why you need to own your story telling ninja skills as a small business owner! You'll Learn:
What Hellowoofy is all about Why content creation is not enough How content marketing works The advantages of automating content distribution channels The importance of social media automation in your business The different platforms you can integrated Utilizing Facebook group for your business The power of story telling in Social Media Best practices in using Hellowoofy for established Amazon sellers
Resources Mentioned:
Hellowoofy, Create marketing content automatically using data science.
For notes on today's episode, click here for The E-Commerce Leader show notes.
E-Commerce Process Principles - Part 2 of 2
For notes on today's episode, click here for The E-Commerce Leader show notes.
Watch E-Commerce Process Principles - Part 1 of 2
VAT in Europe for Amazon Sellers How VAT varies across Europe - with Simply VAT's Alex Wyatt and Louise Brossemart VAT is a European Union -created tax. So that means that it's exactly the same rules and tax rates across the whole EU, right?
Sadly, nothing in tax is ever that simple, and VAT is no exception. While all EU countries have to follow certain basic principles in their VAT on products, there is a variety of tax rates (the lowest being 17%; the highest 27%) and regulations.
However, it's still true that Europe and the UK (which is leaving the EU but keeping VAT) represents a huge potential market not only of sales - Germany especially is Amazon's second-largest marketplace globally, with 22 Billion USD in sales (2019 figures).
So it's worth learning to play the EU VAT game for Amazon sellers!
In this episode with the help from experts at Simply VAT, we talk about the points of difference between the EU countries (and UK) regarding VAT - and how to navigate these tricky but potentially rich waters! You'll Learn
The main points on which VAT can vary country to country Whether you need a local representative in each country The different kinds of representative you might need How rules differ for Non-EU sellers (eg US businesses) Specifically what you need to do for Germany (by far the largest Amazon marketplace in Europe, including the UK) The varying VAT % Filing requirements differences What "Standard VAT" rates are and the difference to "Reduced VAT" rates How to handle "Distance Selling Thresholds" when selling into one EU country from another one Why getting this correct is now really important What's coming in 2022 from the EU that should be positive for Amazon third-party sellers
Resources Mentioned
Simply VAT, UK based VAT experts for e-commerce sellers.
Watch VAT in Europe for Amazon Sellers with Simply VAT experts
VAT for Amazon Sellers The Basics of VAT with Simply VAT's Alex Wyatt and Louise Brossemart Taxes are unavoidable truths. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founder Fathers of the American Republic, even mentioned them in a letter just after founding what turned out to be (arguably) the world's greatest nation:
"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Not only is tax certain; it's usually any business's greatest expense. So learning what expenses are coming and how to reduce or manage those expenses is one of the business world's most essential profit strategies. Europe Good; VAT...Badly Misunderstood Given the size of Amazon markets in Europe - already well over $40 Billion USD in 2019, not to mention the huge spike in growth due to COVID - it would be crazy to block oneself off from a huge opportunity because of problems that have clear, tested professional solutions.
However, VAT is perhaps the tax that causes the most confusion, the most paperwork and - especially among North American sellers wanting to break into selling on Amazon in Europe (including the UK) - perhaps the biggest fear/block. Not only that, but it's subject to change not just by one nation but by multiple countries right across Europe. From VAT Confusion to Clarity All this means above all one thing: in order to have a successful ecommerce or Amazon business in Europe or the UK, it's vital to get clear, professional and up-to-date advice about VAT
In this episode, we are lucky enough to all three from the experts at Simply VAT. As the name implies, these guys live, breathe and eat VAT.
With the help of our friends from Simply VAT, we will talk about the fundamentals of VAT - what it is, when your business might be liable to register for and pay it; and - the good news - how you can get VAT rebates on many of your expenses! You'll Learn
What VAT is When and where VAT is applied The difference between VAT and Sales Tax Who the burden of VAT is supposed to fall on Where and when VAT came from The 5 triggers for VAT registrations Who is responsible for collecting VAT on online marketplaces at the moment What the European Union will be doing marketplaces and VAT in future What an importer of record is and why this matters What you need to know about importing into the EU/UK A vital tip for North American sellers about selling price!
Resources Mentioned
Simply VAT, UK based VAT experts for e-commerce sellers.
Watch VAT for Amazon Sellers with Simply VAT experts
For notes on today's episode, click here for The E-Commerce Leader show notes.
Watch E-Commerce Business Model Overview
For notes on today's episode, click here for The E-Commerce Leader show notes.
Watch Pivoting Your E-Commerce BusinessPivoting Your E-Commerce Business
Amazon Stock Projections Dealing with uncertain futures: projection, 80/20 & Robustness Projecting e-commerce inventory demands - that is, how much stock to buy & when to have it in a warehouse ready to fulfil to customers - is a constant question for Amazon sellers and all ecommerce sellers.
However, the simple question "How much stock should I buy?" can only be answered by answering some more complex questions.
In this episode, we talk about the basis for our projections; the big-picture factors that need to be taken into account; and some kind of alternative to the idea of "projections" as a way of dealing with the uncertain - if exciting - future of ecommerce. You'll Learn
The stock market investing equivalent of most "projections" about the future (including inventory needs, for example) The alternative approach that we can also learn from stock market investors (hint: the most famous exponent of this is investor Warren Buffett) The Geo-political factors that are here to stay for those selling ecommerce in the USA The new UK geo-politics and its impact on selling on Amazon UK How COVID affects ecommerce future and how to deal with that uncertainty
Watch Amazon Stock Projections and Dealing with Uncertainty in E-commerce
For notes on today's episode, click here for The E-Commerce Leader show notes.
Watch Moving from Amazon to Shopify
Will Christensen is the founder and CEO of DataAutomation, a software company that focuses on integration and automation for small and large scale businesses.
The reason why we need digital marketing software is to mitigate most of our work and focus more on things what needed most. These Softwares help you to target audience, generate reports and analytics, create landing pages, and perform all other types of digital marketing essentials.
Will Christensen will share his recommended software in Automation and how it is essential to Amazon sellers.
You’ll learn about:
Most underrated software for communication and their functions How Zapier works with other different software The importance of clipboard management tools Most recommended software for password management
Next Steps: www.dataautomation.com and use contact form
mention “Amazing FBA”/10K Collective Podcast
Interviews Related to Automation:
Multichannel Campaign Management with Rytis Lauris Omni Channel Marketing with Rytis Lauris Following up on Amazon Reviews with Automated Email with Henson Wu
Other Interviews from Will Christensen:
The E-myth Revisited & the E-Commerce Seller with Will Christensen from DataAutomation.com Automate, Delegate and Eliminate with Will Christensen from DataAutomation
Watch Process Tools for Amazon Sellers with Will Christensen
Will Christensen is the founder and CEO of DataAutomation, a software company that focuses on integration and automation for small and large scale businesses.
Automation leads us to quick processing of large amounts of tasks and reduces turnaround time. It allows you to achieve more results with hardly any efforts.
Will Christensen will be teaching about the three different processes that will help you on your automation journey.
You’ll learn about:
How they started their own podcast Why it is important to manage your FBA process The significance of choosing what’s working, eliminate what isn’t working The importance of defining what success looks like
Next Steps: www.dataautomation.com and use contact form
mention “Amazing FBA”/10K Collective Podcast
Interviews Related to Automation:
Multichannel Campaign Management with Rytis Lauris Omni Channel Marketing with Rytis Lauris Following up on Amazon Reviews with Automated Email with Henson Wu
Other Interviews from Will Christensen:
The E-myth Revisited & the E-Commerce Seller with Will Christensen from DataAutomation.com Process Tools for Amazon Sellers with Will Christensen from DataAutomation
Watch Automate, Delegate and Eliminate with Will Christensen
Will Christensen is the founder and CEO of DataAutomation.com, a software company that focuses on integration and automation for small and large scale businesses.
Automation is a necessity for your business, it helps you improve process control and reduce downtime and human error.
Will Christensen will be sharing about E-Myth and the roles of an E-Commerce seller.
You’ll learn about:
How Will started his journey in Automation The 3 distinct roles that have to exist in the business Why Automation should be the Pivot point The different hats an entrepreneur should wear The importance of defining the process before automation The role of a technician What does seeing the future means for an entrepreneur Why delegation is very important The advantages of getting a Virtual Assistant
Next Steps: www.dataautomation.com and use contact form
mention “Amazing FBA”/10K Collective Podcast
Interviews Related to Automation:
Multichannel Campaign Management with Rytis Lauris Omni Channel Marketing with Rytis Lauris Following up on Amazon Reviews with Automated Email with Henson Wu
Other Interviews from Will Christensen:
Automate, Delegate and Eliminate with Will Christensen from DataAutomation Process Tools for Amazon Sellers with Will Christensen from DataAutomation
Watch The E-myth Revisited & the E-Commerce Seller with Will Christensen
AlignToday is a business management software that helps people focus on getting the most important things done that will help their business grow and scale.
Eugene Terk, the vice president of AlignToday will be sharing his thoughts on Using a Software to implement the Scaling Up principle. You’ll Learn About:
Who is Scaling Up is for When should you use this The importance of Scaling Up methodology How would you best implement this in a small/growing business How AlightToday is different from other software in the market Why it is important to work through your core values and core purpose The examples of using strategy and execution
Related topics about Scaling Up a Business:
Scaling an Amazon Business to 8 Figures with Fernando Cruz of Marketplace Ops Scaling up – Private Label Strategy (Step 9 of 10) Scaling a business on Amazon with Ashley Pearce Part 2 Scaling your Business Accounting with Penny Lowe Part 2 Grow Amazon Business with Jenna Lieber
Resources: amazingfba.com/align
Aligntoday.com
Watch Using a Software to Implement the Scaling Up Principle
Eugene Terk is the vice president of business development at AlignToday, a business management software that focuses on detailed daily projects workload and helps manage higher-level strategic goals of your company.
Eugene will be teaching us how to scale up business through strategy and execution based on his knowledge and experience. You’ll Learn About:
The methodology of AlignToday The highlights of the Scaling Up Structure The importance of knowing your foundational principles The foundation core of the Rockefeller habits How to move from strategy to implementation Specific action steps to achieve goals How AlignToday organize their meetings The importance of tracking your metrics
Related topics about Scaling Up a Business:
Scaling an Amazon Business to 8 Figures with Fernando Cruz of Marketplace Ops Scaling up – Private Label Strategy (Step 9 of 10) Scaling a business on Amazon with Ashley Pearce Part 2 Scaling your Business Accounting with Penny Lowe Part 2 Grow Amazon Business with Jenna Lieber
Resources: amazingfba.com/align
Aligntoday.com
Watch Scaling Up Principles Through Strategy and Execution
Rob Patterson is CMO of AWeber. AWeber is a company focussed on making email marketing powerfully simple for small business owners so they can grow their business quickly.
Email Marketing is a flexible and cost-effective way of reaching customers and retaining existing customers. It also allows us to create targeted and personalized messages which help us to build relationships with our clients. It will also improve response rates to your direct marketing campaigns.
Rob Patterson will be talking about email strategies that convert readers to customers. You’ll Learn About:
The 7 types of emails to send out The 7 email strategy for converting readers into customers The effectiveness of email marketing What are the standard email metrics What are AWeber updates this year How does Dynamic Content become a game-changer The importance of segmenting contacts and lists within the database Why AWeber is recommended for email marketing
Next Step:
AWeber offers a 30-day trial, Including all features!
You can play with AWeber smart designer on the site
www.amazingfba.com/aweber
Related topics about Email Marketing:
Email marketing and Amazon DPS with Brad Moss of Product Labs Following up on Amazon Reviews with Automated Email with Henson Wu Amazon email followup for review with Henson Wu Amazon TOS updates on emails with Henson Wu
Resources:
https://www.aweber.com/
Watch Creating Email Series Around the Lead Magnet with Rob Patterson
Amazon Account Management with John Cavendish of Seller Candy You'll Learn
The problem with hiring cheap staff to handle Seller Central tasks Why you don't need someone who understands your business deeply to do tactical Seller Central tasks Why you also don't need someone full-time or working exclusively for you What John's staff find on Account audits Why it's important to monitor listings Buy box suppression How to use Flat Files to back up your listings (this could save a lot of headaches) Update on FBA shipment and order handling
Next Steps To work with John just go to sellercandy.com or email John@sellercandy.com
Mention “Amazing FBA” - pro package $100 discount Other interviews with John Coronavirus for Amazon Sellers
Running an agency can be an interesting adventure! It’s how you navigate the highs and the lows that can help you build a long-lasting business.
John Cavendish an Amazon seller with a 7 figure FBA business and co-founder of SellerCandy with his business partner Brian Patterson will show us the best way to run an agency. You’ll learn about:
How John became very good at selling $100k a month The best practices of Sales The importance of the Sales Process The significance of having a Sales system John’s process in the Sales system
Next Steps: To work with John just go to sellercandy.com or email John@sellercandy.com
Mention “Amazing FBA” - pro package $100 discount
amazingfba.com/sellercandy
Other interviews with John:
Amazon Account Management Coronavirus for Amazon Sellers Translate Your Amazon Listing How to Access Amazon Europe The SellerCandy Services
Resources Mentioned:
www.massconversionmarketing.com sellercandy.com
Watch Running an Agency with John Cavendish of SellerCandy
John Cavendish an Amazon seller with a 7 figure FBA business and co-founder of SellerCandy will show us what services they offer and how they can help in different types of businesses.
One of the biggest downsides to life as an Amazon seller is the host of small tasks that buzz around like insects distracting you from higher-value tasks. Things like dealing with the same issue in a case on Seller Central that takes 10 emails to get a resolution; dealing with customer service; keeping track of all the numbers etc. It’s no fun and it's low value.
Obviously one of the solutions is to have your own staff. That’s a much better step than doing low-value tasks yourself, of course. The thing is though that if you find someone cheap, you have to retrain them yourself. You have to create all the training materials, structures (SOPs etc.). Then you have the issue of people quitting every so often and needing to start that process from scratch.
So in a situation like that, it can make a lot of sense to just hire in a ready-made solution. Not only can you hit the ground running but you won’t have the future burden of updating SOPs and hiring, firing, and retraining workers either.
As an experienced 7-figure Amazon Private Label seller, John Cavendish hit all the above issues and decided to offer the solutions he found to other Amazon sellers in the same boat. He shares the issues and the solutions he’s found to dealing with them.
You’ll learn about:
What you can find on Account Audits The different task types they offer When is the perfect time to outsource The specific issues on Amazon and how to solve them The importance of monitor listing The significance of buy box suppression How to deal with hijackers Some issues with the Brand registry that John solves How to layer coupon codes while protecting your sales price
Next Steps: To work with John just go to sellercandy.com or email John@sellercandy.com
Mention “Amazing FBA” - pro package $100 discount
amazingfba.com/sellercandy
Other interviews with John Cavendish:
Amazon Account Management Coronavirus for Amazon Sellers Translate Your Amazon Listing How to Access Amazon Europe Running an Agency
Resources Mentioned:
sellercandy.com Amazon Seller Central
Watch The SellerCandy Services with John Cavendish
Rob Patterson is CMO of AWeber. AWeber is a company focussed on making email marketing powerfully simple for small business owners so they can grow their business quickly.
Email marketing has had a rather dowdy image for the last decade. As it started off in the ‘90s, it’s often seen as dated and belonging to the past. Spam also impacted its reputation back in the early 2000s. So is it all about social media? Is email just dead and outdated?
The truth is the opposite. Email is a vital and powerful way to connect with people. It is also a very personal way of reaching out to your target customers, which is why email marketing is still relevant in E-commerce. In raw financial terms, the return on investment of email marketing is way more effective than pretty much any other marketing channel.
Rob Patterson, CMO of AWeber, smashes a few myths and shares useful email marketing tips and tricks to help small businesses grow quickly. You’ll Learn About:
Why Email Marketing is essential Who is this for How Email Marketing works Why Email Marketing is still relevant How Email Marketing Why people think Email Marketing is dead How Email Marketing fits Amazon How to grow your list How to segment your list The simplest funnel you can build to create new signups Getting people to your list Engagement through lead magnets and landing pages
Next Step: AWeber offers a 30-day trial, Including all features!
You can play with AWeber smart designer on the site
www.amazingfba.com/aweber
Related topics about Email Marketing:
Email marketing and Amazon DPS with Brad Moss of Product Labs Following up on Amazon Reviews with Automated Email with Henson Wu Amazon email followup for review with Henson Wu Amazon TOS updates on emails with Henson Wu
Resources: https://www.aweber.com/
Watch Email Marketing for Amazon Funnels with Rob Patterson
Brian Miller, CEO, and founder of Easy China Warehouse teaches the best practices in exporting.
China is a rising market and has progressed into a country with high tech manufacturing capabilities which has lots of advantages. Brian will help us understand the benefits and point out some tips on how it works. You’ll Learn About:
The benefits of storing in China How rail to Europe works. The sea freight from China to Europe What are the things to look out for How do we stay in stock The issues of Amazon FBA What to consider when working with 3rd party Fulfilment FBM How to work with a partner in marketplace countries
Contact Easychinawarehouse.com
Brian@Easychinawarehouse.com Related interviews Pandemic and China Freight with Brian Miller of Easy China Warehouse
Ecommerce importing with Burak Yolga
Watch China Freight Export with Brian Miller
Brian Miller, CEO, and founder of Easy China Warehouse shares his knowledge and expertise on China's pandemic and the freight situation.
The freight industry is one of the most vital services of the modern interconnected world.
The COVID-19 outbreak that started spreading from different countries across the globe is forcing governments and international authorities to take next level measures such as lockdown of cities and control the movement of people to check and minimize the rapid spread of the pandemic.
As a consequence of this outbreak, important industries such as logistics and transportation are slowed down. Therefore, Brian Miller, CEO, and founder of Easy China Warehouse will give us a clear picture of China’s current situation and the freight industry. You’ll Learn About:
The skills that Brian acquired on his previous work experience. How he started his business in the freight industry. How Fulfillment company helps FBA companies in shipping. How the Corona Virus spread and affected China. The effects of the pandemic in the freight industry. The Slowing factors in the supply chain and its alternatives. The advantages of consolidation service.
Contact Easychinawarehouse.com
Brian@Easychinawarehouse.com
Watch China Pandemic and Freight Situation with Brian Miller
Build a Brand on Amazon with Jenna Lieber with Jenna Lieber of Turnkey Product Management You'll Learn
Why it's important to have just one core target customer How to integrate your approach across listing creation, Amazon ads, etc. The under-used tools on Amazon you need to invest in Why "follow your audience" is a core strategy for building an off-Amazon audience Simple effective ways to build an email list What COVID has shown Amazon sellers & the lesson to take from it Reducing channel risk by diversifying
Next Steps Free resources page - Turnkeyproductmanagement.com/resource Book free break-through session call - Agency - Coaching etc. - Physical product brands - Typically minimum $250K a year - FaceBook group - produced every week Other interviews about Coronavirus and and ecommerce Coronavirus for Amazon Sellers
Coronavirus and eCommerce with Jenna Lieber, Turnkey Product Management
Watch Build a Brand on Amazon with Jenna Lieber
Learn the basics of creating a predictable revenue with Aaron Ross as he talks about lead generation and building your first sales team.
Lead generation in creating a predictable revenue What drives growth?
What causes growth to stall?
This is Aaron’s main lesson from Salesforce.com which was around $25M revenue and mostly in small companies when he joined; whereas they wanted to go up towards larger companies.
They hired a lot of salespeople but it wasn’t bringing in qualified leads.
So Aaron created a pipeline for this because you have to have a predictable leads creation system.
Product-led growth is an interesting term. 3 types of leads - Seeds, Nets & Spears Seeds
This is word of mouth - friends, family, customer referrals - organic growth. These are mostly free, have fast sales cycles and tend to be easier. These are however hard to grow
Nets Marketing - one-to-many broadcasts, advertising, etc.
It’s more about the number of leads rather than quality. Whether in e-commerce or B2B. Spears Outbound selling, - typically a targeted list and reaching out directly to see if it’s a fit.
Eg distribution partner for e-commerce Or brand owners for agency owners
These are harder to find but much more valuable potentially. How to decide which to focus on creating a predictable revenue Pick one or two things vs. Doing 20 things.
What’s worked best for you?
Content marketing? Google? Amazon Ads?
Most people don’t invest in their strength enough before they plateau. They assume a marketing channel has plateaued much earlier than it has in fact. Look at your calling Look at your natural interest.
Some people are just more into writing, social media, video or outbound selling.
It could be a book or a webinar. Aaron is a book person.
Any passion or enthusiasm helps because it takes a lot of work and time.
This could take 6-18 months to grow. Get good at selling! A lot of people aren’t comfortable with the word “sales” - but it’s a skill you must have.
It’s just a skill - helping people make decisions.
Salespeople include Mother Theresa, JFK; Elon Musk. B2B Sales / Building Your First Sales Team A lot of people won’t be a good fit for a sales team.
It can take months or longer to begin to build a team. Phase Zero - CEO salesperson In Silicon Valley, a lot of founders don’t want to be part of selling.
This is a huge mistake. The right ones try to be part of the first 20-30 sales.
Then they get tired and hire a salesperson. Phase 1 - Business Development Rep Junior person who is there to take inbound calls or outbound prospecting
So you have a junior person who is prospecting and one senior who closes.
Of course, they will often fail - you’ll normally know within 30-60 days. Phase 2 - Promote that person or hire Once you’ve got that rep in place, you can promote that person or hire another.
So you now have a junior and two senior people Phase 3 - Hire a team leader They are normally best at optimizing what is working.
It’s a different skill set and personality to build from scratch. Do the time Building a sales team can be 2-3 years long!
We hear so much about “overnight successes” but we don’t see the 10 years before that. Forcing Functions (e.g., speak & publish to crystallize value) We all have resistance.
Some people deal with stress by freezing like a rabbit in the headlights.
Others are like a rabid dog!
Forcing functions create situations that mean you can’t get away with this!
Making public declarations with deadlines help
For example:
Aaron put a post on Facebook that he was going to run a workshop. If you take investor money, you can’t just have a relaxed lifestyle business now. That’s another classic forcing function in business. Having kids was another one for Aaron - he was forced to increase revenue and he upped his income 11X. If you want to get fit,
Manage Seller Account Amazon with Jenna Lieber with Jenna Lieber of Turnkey Product Management You'll Learn
The most important prelude to working on Growing your Amazon business How one strategy can transform your business (hint: it's pretty widely used offline, too) Which tools Jenna's team uses to manage tasks Her favourite Amazon tools How to manage your budget
Next Steps Free resources page - Turnkeyproductmanagement.com/resource Book free break-through session call - Agency - Coaching etc. - Physical product brands - Typically minimum $250K a year - FaceBook group - produced every week Other interviews about Growing your Amazon business Scaling your Amazon Business with Fernando Cruz
Scaling a business on Amazon with Ashley Pearce of Future State Media
eCommerce Growth Strategy with Brad Moss of Product Labs
Watch Grow Amazon Business with Jenna Lieber
Amazon Account Management under Coronavirus with Jenna Lieber of Turnkey Product Management You'll Learn
The "new normal" coronavirus and eCommerce, and what it means for Amazon sellers Variations by State - the "Phases" of COVID19 economic recovery How Amazon as a marketplace has fared under Coronavirus lockdown in the USA What categories have done really well Product categories that have suffered from lockdown Latest Amazon shipping situation in USA
Next Steps Free resources page - Turnkeyproductmanagement.com/resource Book free break-through session call - Agency - Coaching etc. - Physical product brands - Typically minimum $250K a year - FaceBook group - produced every week Other interviews about Coronavirus and and ecommerce Coronavirus for Amazon Sellers
Watch Coronavirus and eCommerce with Jenna Lieber
Learn how to choose the best niche for you. Aaron Ross will be talking about nice-to-have and need-to-have for your niche.
Aaron’s Background Aaron was in business to business SaaS (software platforms) but nailing a niche is universal to any business.
He started at Salesforce.com and created the outbound selling function fro them and added $100M in revenue for them.
After that, he ended up writing and publishing Predictable Revenue.
He is now co-CEO of a business with 50 people and $7 million in revenue this year.
Plus a father of 9!
Aaron’s specialism is finding the uniqueness of a business; taking existing businesses and helping them grow - or identifying why they don’t grow. In all cases, there are universal issues.
His mother also grosses about $1M a year on Amazon USA selling flower seeds and bulbs.
She has been gardening for 20 years and has specialized knowledge and supplier relationships. Motivated by the IRS (US tax) debt! Why do entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs resist niching down? We’re in a world of overwhelming. So messaging MUST be focussed to cut through the noise.
If you had a radio station that played jazz and rock and classical, it would be very confusing. But a lot of entrepreneurs do this with their messaging.
However, entrepreneurs resist niching down, due to:
Fear of missing out. Fear of being too small Being too boring eg selling red spoons
But once you’ve done it and realize the value of it, you will be more open to it.
It’s SO much faster to scale with a clear message.
It’s about human perception in the end. Different opportunities - how to prioritize and pick a niche It’s not necessarily to be a one-stop-shop - if it solves the pain of the customer, that’s okay.
Aaron left SalesForce.com in 2006 (and a year of M & A) - he wanted to make a way of making as much money as possible.
Aaron tried creating various businesses:
“Unique Genius” - how to make money with your unique skills and personality
“CEO Flow” - how to make mini-CEOs in your business.
In 2011 Aaron got married, his wife had 2 kids already and then had another on the way.
So I had to actually make money. And ended up increasing his personal income 10X. How to choose your niche Look at your opportunities:
Where do you have your strongest case? What’s been proven to work? What is profitable?
Aaron had the most reputation in sales, plus expertise. Also, it was valuable to clients
And thus profitable. This is why he ended up creating a successful, profitable business in the outbound sales in a B2B niche. Need to have vs. nice to have It’s hard to sell something to someone if they don’t perceive they have to have it.
When have customers paid the most money and got the best value? Trust is premium
Anyone can make any claim they want. They need to trust you can deliver on the promise. But the customer has to also trust that they personally can do it.
For example, gain muscle ads - you have all the proof (mostly best successful customer studies) - that you can deliver on this. But the consumer has to believe he can gain 20 pounds - but also possible for him too.
Make it feel simple or doable - all the pieces in one physical package.
Eg 1 Aaron just bought a basic piano keyboard with a seat, headphones, etc.
Eg 2 It could be a 7-step process if you’re running an agency. So the client can see himself doing it. Info overwhelm is not the answer People have great info overwhelm. What they need is more clarity, not content.
The same applies to content marketing. Empathy is a vital skill - how do you get in the shoes of the customer. Twilio is past $100s of Millions in SaaS in the USA If people send SMS etc. via apps, they use Twilio like Uber.
It’s a platform, so it’s great but also so much choice.
It’s like Lego - they have prepackaged a product, like a spaceship with all the instructions.
Business brokers vs M&A Advisors Intro: experienced M & A Advisors for digitally native enterprises
by Chris Shipferling of Global Wired Advisors (GWA) What is the difference between a M& A Advisor as opposed to a business broker? They usually have a strong background in investment banking - High risk, complex world - High stress - You have to make large transactions
For The Amazon world the M & A Advisor would have a deeper experience compared to a broker. Having owned and sold a business does give you experience. But it doesn’t necessarily. Who do M & A Advisors sell businesses to? M & A is more thorough and you do a lot of research about the client’s business and how it - private equity firm - Global Family private office - Family with wealth looking - Corporate investors - They go to trade shows - Around the world eg Germany, China, USA - Identify corporate and strategic M & A arms or CFOs, CEOs - What criteria? - What kind of business are you looking to bolt on? What kinds of businesses do you work with? It has evolved in last 2 years - Threshold was about $1M in revenue - Threshold has now moved up - reason: when putting business through process - investing banking process- it’s a good fit for amazon business owner and the Business Broker vs M & A Advisor A broker tends to take a business of any size and blast it out to a list - List procured over several lists
GWA have a more segmented list - Often deals are not publicly shown Business valuation and Multiples What leads valuation - Risk versus return - State of the industry - Value is a communication point between seller and buyer How do you move the market from where it sits? There are reasons for why it sits somewhere - One is risk vs. Return - The market in general looks at all businesses that are “small” eg $50M as small. - That means it’s seen as higher risk because of size - A lot of detail and ROE Return on Equity or Risk vs Return analysis Where will this business be in 3 years time? If you just list marketplaces this business could sell in, that’s a bit lazy. Part of the prep is diving in and really painting the 3-year picture.
Chris had to present 3-year marketing plan for a middle market company In other businesses, there was a large forecasting exercise where you went through everything - they were defendable - Offence and defence playbook
When speaking to private equity or family offices, you need that playbook
Self fulfilling prophecy in the Amazon space It becomes a self-fulfilling thing because the brokers are selling at about 2.8-3X
But there hasn’t been a sophisticated analysis of why the businesses should be worth more. Global Wired Advisors has pushed up the real multiples
The industry is developing. Buyers are looking for something professional Alternative ways to value business - Revenue per employee - Discounted cashflow - Effective cashflow (Seller Discretionary Earnings) - EBITDA - Multiple is usually 3-4X multiple for Amazon If you pressed a selling agent on how they came to that conclusion. Business valuation examples Recently sold a SaaS business - it was a very interesting business for a lot of acquirer It got a 12X multiple because they got it positioned the right way
Another one achieved 8X multiple. This PE got the value.
In both cases, GWA gave guidance on valuation. But sophisticated cap guys know how to do valuations. When you deal with those guys, the valuation are consistent. Comparing multiples across industries - Amazon - 3-4X multiple is stable. - A lot of it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if it’s listed for a multiple. The highest to date for an Amazon business was about a 5X for a $30M business
The higher the EBITDA, the more you can get PE to bite harder even though it’s just on Amazon. As the earnings from Amazon are published, that pushes it. Amazon is $1.2Trillion market cap with 40X earnings.
eCommerce and Corona Virus Global Wired Advisors are experienced M & A Advisors for digitally native enterprise
E-Commerce and Coronavirus with Jason Somerville of Global Wired Advisors
Supply side effects of Coronavirus
Started in China - supply chain effect
A lot of ecommerce sellers and businesses had stocked up on inventory going into CNY - which mitigated supply chain issues
As it spread into EU and USA it became a broader issue
Demand side effects of Coronavirus
As effects more acute, ecommerce has been affected Quarantine or stay at home order, that’s when bigger picture effects really started. Ecommerce has tended to be affected uniquely compared to others
Public Capital markets effects of lockdown Mid march - stock market fell a lot. Business activity ground to a halt Except “essential” businesses Rotating from Virus discussion to post virus discussion.
Ecommerce and Corona Virus
When people forced to stay home, many buy goods online. Many other businesses eg travel, airlines, restaurants, local stores been effectively shut off from economic activity for over a month. A lot of businesses that sell consumer goods that are “non essential”
A number of clients march sales 4X Q4 in 2019
Supply side challenges for eCommerce and Amazon sellers
It’s more an inventory management exercise to fulfil demand Amazon FBA issues
Limit inbound Deprioritise non essentials
Recession for eCommerce due to Coronavirus Most e-commerce businesses don’t have the downward trend. It’s more like a hockey stick! Within bigger picture, there is a big downward push in sales and economic activity. It’s not so much a V, it’s like a backwards checkmark. So in the short term, the left side of the V is
There is a dramatic bounce say 50% of the depth of the left side Then you enter into recovery period The shape of that will be driven by
How long the shutdown lasts
Every week matters The longer it goes, the longer it takes to come back
It won’t be a 1-month bounce back to the usual economy Government stimulus prog’s will also change it
How effective How big Eg Federal Reserve etc. has tried hard but they’re inefficient, ham handed. Don’t always work the way they are supposed to work. It’s not just how many $, it’s about how they are delivered.
ecommerce and Coronavirus short term -short term shift to online shopping
Market share shifts from traditional to online This benefits a lot of ecomm business
What to expect for ecommerce after Coronavirus -in the economic recovery stickiness is the key!
This is bringing a lot of new customers to online shopping It’s bringing those who were online already, into categories they would still purchase in a retail outlet How sticky is that once economy starts to open up? It won’t be 100% stickiness but it may be 30-40% of that demand stays around for the long term
Next factor - consumers damaged in downturn
Discretionary items usually go down in a recession
Luxury good or high end (premium) these categories tend to go down first and sharpest Then you move into a new consumer behaviour model The changes in behaviour are correlated to depth and breadth of downturn
How to shore up the value of your ecommerce business as an asset? Bucket 1 - if your ecommerce sales have reduced seriously during lockdown
Try to access as much liquidity as you possibly can
In USA, a number of progs allow smaller progs to access liquidity for the businesses The investment in the future you make now will pay dividends Because
This event is likely to affect consumer behaviour for the long term Ecommerce businesses are a lot more attractive as an asset than historically
Get smart about stock management
If you’re in a cat that you feel will take off after crisis, be ready!
Imagination in an Amazon business In a world of Amazon sellers (and there were 2 million active sellers worldwide in 2019), it can become an echo chamber (as Will Tjernlund says) where everyone just copies everyone. Not only does it get pretty repetitive, it's not good business sense to use the same models as everyone else. Most of all, you could be overlooking some massive wins inherent in the ecommerce/Amazon situation right now.
Dillon CArter of GoAura.com and Michael knock around some of the more radical ways you could consider moving your business forward - or even forming a completely new kind of business at a higher level. You'll Learn
Why you need to have a funnel for the Amazon Wholesale Sourcing game How Dillon lost $2000 in profit by NOT tracking his supplier relationships well Why managing the ongoing supplier relationship is massively neglected and why that matters... How to respond long-term to the (also long-term) trend towards lower prices in any product category How to solve capital shortages (not an "easy" win but nonetheless a proven model) 3 big-picture big opportunities in e-commerce and retail broadly right now (2 of them involve combining physical retail businesses with online selling!) How using Leveraged Buyouts can mean you buy half a business...which then buys itself!
Resources mentioned:
Vendrive.com Amazon Wholesale CRM system Goaura.com Amazon intelligent repricer for Amazon resellers
Related episodes
ecommerce business processes with Dillon Carter
Ecommerce Business Processes Dillon Carter has made good money building an Amazon wholesale business alongside finishing a college degree AND co-founding a SaaS company, Goaura.com ! He has done this thanks to the power of having clear and detailed Processes in his eCommerce business.
Dillon and I discussed the power of processes, particularly as they relate to e-commerce and specifically, Amazon wholesale sourcing. The bad news is of course that some of us - myself included - are not naturals at creating and following business processes. The great news is - according to Dillon - is we can all get there - if we really want and need to! You'll Learn
The powerful insight you'll get by having a process and documented stages to your processes in your eCommerce business processes The power of identifying your biggest bottleneck in the business Why "Working in your business" can be a valid thing to develop your business processes Why everyone can build systems - and if you're ambitious enough, why you'll HAVE to get there! How to start with your biggest pain - and turn it into a system so you can get it off your desk! The importance of giving your staff ownership of a task or process once you hand it over Why "it's all in my head" can be the biggest bottleneck of all - even in substantial businesses! The game that Dillon plays against himself to develop efficient processes When NOT to hire a person to do a task
Resources mentioned
Vendrive - CRM system for managing Amazon wholesale GoAura - Intelligent repricer for Amazon resellers The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Work the System by Sam Carpenter
Related Podcast episodes
Amazon wholesale business with Dylan Frost of The Wholesale Formula Amazon wholesale with Dylan Frost of The Wholesale Formula Wholesale sourcing for Amazon with Dan Meadors of The Wholesale Formula Amazon wholesale marketing with Dan Meadors of The Wholesale Formula
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Amazon Sponsored Brands overview Amazon Sponsored Brands overview with Ritu Java of PPC Ninja
Click below to view a video presentation of this post:
Amazon Sponsored Brands video version How time consuming are Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads? It is time consuming! Main not have such a quick ROI as sponsored product ads Sponsored product ads has no creative so that makes it easier too Use a lot of creative strategies to stretch the platform that’s available to us. Sponsored brand ads allow you to capture more of the market. Why Sponsored Brands exist officially
According to Amazon, it's to “Help shoppers discover your brand and products” So is it more about brand discovery than direct response? “Engaging” - is it actually more engaging than a picture of a product on a shopping platform
Brand building on Amazon with Sponsored Brands Can you really build a brand on Amazon? Most sellers are focussed on RoAS (return on ad spend) Most shoppers don’t focus on the brand Amazon has trained people to look for deals Brand loyalty is hard to build on Amazon platform.
How does the RoAS of Sponsored Brands compare with Sponsored products ads? Depends on the type of ad.
Product collection - most common
Headline search ad - shows up at top of Amazon SERPS
Could go to a product listing Or to storefront Or detailed page of specific products
New layouts coming up
Video ad (Beta)
Getting a lot of traction - works well Amazon has tested placing those differently - people are online more often in Coronavirus times - placing at top of page just below banner ad Daunting to get videographer - think outside box - Create a video with zoom and pan effects with still images. Just add some background music. Up to 45 seconds. It’s autoplay - audio off by default and plays in a loop. Just needs to be in a certain format.
Store Spotlight (Beta)
Only available on the Amazon Advertising Console
Amazon Advertising Console -previously AMS Who has access already to AMS? How do we get access to Amazon Advertising Console if we don’t already?
Sponsored Display ad (beta)
Actually type of ad that used to live under sponsored brands. It’s actually a “product display ad” Again only available if you have access to Amazon Advertising Console. You can place this on your competitor’s pages. New Layouts Favour the “brand feel “ - you’ll need lifestyle images Amazon is really pushing storesfront
TIPS - How to Sponsored brand ads Tip 1 Brand Match -on sponsored brand ads - it’s not what you think It’s not like broad, phrase, exact on sponsored product types Broad matches might be very broad eg selling a garlic press might be Brought up by citrus juicer or apple slicer. Download your search term report! Sometimes it can be good for broader exposure Is it worth absorbing costs of clicks that don’t make sales? Broad match modifier- you can fix the presence of a word eg +garlic means only results including garlic will come back.
Tip 2 - Long Tail Keywords are an under used type of Sponsored Brands ad
A lot of people bid on brand names Most people use sponsored brand ads as top of funnel ads. Instead, you can use them in middle or bottom of funnel. This gives you access to placements that are under-utilised.
Tip 3 - creative messaging with Amazon Sponsored Brands - study your competition Figure out which benefits your consumers care about
Benefit - how it will benefit them Feature - what it can do or is? Credibility - speed, quality, as seen on eg Shark Tank, Ellen Urgency - better now than later, buy more than one etc.
CTAs
For a downloadable checklist, go to amazingfba.com/headlineads
For the video presentation by Ritu Java, click below: Amazon Sponsored Brands
How do you accurately figure out your customer avatar? How do you ACTUALLY know what they care about?
Sponsored Brands Example - homemakers
Intro Ritu Java is CEO of PPC Ninja. Help sellers and advertisers maximise ROI on Amazon via Paid Ads - including Sponsored products, sponsored brands and sponsored display ads. Also have a software tool or full agency. What are your clients trying to achieve? Most people are happy with sponsored product ads. That’s because they are easy to set up; you don’t need to find extra images etc. Sponsored brand ads require some extra work - and sellers want to skip doing this. When people have been running sponsored product ads and they get into sponsored brands. They then try to use the same kind of strategy. People then think that it doesn’t work. Sellers are obsessed with reducing ACoS! Few come in with desire to have more sales Nobody comes in with the desire to increase brand awareness! Brand building Can you really build a brand on Amazon? Amazon has trained shoppers to go for “value” Yes, shoppers might be put off around a Chinese or cheap-seeming brand. But otherwise they have value as the main driver. Ritu’s response is to try to use the tools so you can get shorter-term return. One extreme is to let Amazon manage your ads for you - for minimum $35K! For most SMEs that isn’t an option! It’s not just the headline ads. It also includes the video insert or video ad. You can’t change the messaging too much but you can place messaging in the video itself with captions etc. If you have the description of the video in a semi native format. How do you decide where to allocate money, time and focus? It’s natural to focus on sponsored product ads. But that is actually an opportunity - if your competition are not willing to be there, you should! They are prominent and so many calls to action so this is a way to be more visibility Money side How expensive are sponsored brand ads? The lowest you can spend on sponsored brand ads in the USA is 10 cents. For video ads there is another layer that it’s $0.25 minimum for a click. But Amazon is going through a transition period. Go after the long tail with sponsored brand ads that attracts people in the lower funnel. Also focus on your own brand.
Store Spotlight (Beta) and Sponsored Display ad (beta)
Only available on the Amazon Advertising Console Amazon Advertising Console -previously AMS who has access already? Amazon’s been making an effort to merge the platforms so eventually people will all have access to it. So at this point people who have seller central which gives sponsored brands and some people also have AMS/Ad consoles with sponsored brand ads. The only difference is that you can run product display ads on the Amazon Ad console. No need for image creatives but you can make custom message. How time consuming is it to make/set up your sponsored brand ads? It depends on your process. At PPC Ninja, First of all they brainstorm a list of avatars. The second thing is intent - are they just window shopping or “in market” - not just floating around in general keywords (higher or lower in the funnel). Limits: have to be within 50 characters. Images Not all images work - they try to split test outside Amazon eg Picfu to see what is most appealing. Then test those out. Landing page Then you have to test a landing page - should it be a sub page within a store, store page or detailed listing page. The results vary. If someone in a long-tail search lands on a list of products, they are more likely to buy something. Whereas someone with a more general search term, they might be better off on the storefront. Generally going direct to list page itself leads to better conversions. Ritu puts in a whole day of spreadsheet work; you could do it in phases. How do you accurately figure out avatar? It’s not necessarily based on surveys; it’s generally clear. But the exercise really helps with the messaging. It helps clarify keywords and some of the creative messaging. Are you pitching this to TV watchers who will be excited by “As seen...
Learn Accounting for Amazon Sellers UK from Allison Walker as she discusses dividends and bookkeeping.
Amazon UK Accounting Resources mentioned in today's episode: These links are primarily for Accounting for Amazon Sellers UK. But you'll find US version easily too:
Xero - online accounting package preferred by Allison Quickbooks -alternative online accounting package LinkMyBooks - software to link Amazon to Xero or Quickbooks - for UK or USA based businesses Receipt Bank- software to let you upload photos of receipts etc to Xero or Quickbooks
Setting up your Amazon acounting as a sole trader Rule #1: don't use your personal bank account!
- It’s really painful for book-keeping
HMRC VAT or inspection this means they would have to share own personal bank statements If you’re running a business, run it like a business!
Have an ltd co business bank accounts 1 Credit card for business and one for personal
Touch on Amazon issue of swapping sole trader for ltd co! Limited company directors taking out money they shouldn’t! Owners see a healthy bank balance and take money out.
This is almost the opposite position to where you’ve tied all your cash up in stock (and not differentiating between profit and loss vs. Cashflow).
The cash in the bank is NOT the same as the profit in the company! Careful with Dividends as payment You’re only allowed to take out dividends out of profit.
You need to know what is LEFT (reserved profits) after all costs including accrued tax liability.
You need to deduct costs including corporation tax (19% of the profit) before you know what the post-tax net profit is.
If you take out more, you end up with an overdrawn director’s loan account - meaning you now owe the business some of the money you took out. Taking out dividends vs. Salaries in the UK The dividend tax rate in Feb 2020 is currently only 7%.
This is much lower than the tax on salary in the UK (20% basic rate, 40% higher rate, 45% top rate)
Most directors take a salary up to their personal allowance threshold (£12.5K a year in the UK in 2020) in salary, and dividends after that.
HMRC don’t necessarily like it, but it’s legal! Solutions for separating out tax to one side
Have at least 2 bank accounts - have a current account for income and suppliers, etc. Have a separate bank account for VAT and corporate tax! And don’t touch that! Also, make some savings for the business MINDSET: VAT does not belong to you. You’re just collecting it on behalf of HMRC
If you take out more than you should have, that has to be paid back
Or you have to go into the following year and declare profits and it gets messy What is the difference between accounting vs. Book-keeping? There is a big difference … Bookkeeping They are the ones running processes.
Allison’s preference is that book-keeping and reconciling bank accounts are done DAILY!
You can use Xero or Quickbooks - and then you can instantly see how you’re doing.
And you can link Amazon to either with “Link My Books” LInkmybooks.com Accountants’ jobs Above all, they can educate and advise you on what the numbers actually mean in your business.
They can help you set targets and goals; check your margins, and monitor trends.
Make sure you look for someone qualified!
Work that they do includes:
accruals Stock properly dealt with Pre-payment Personal or Corporation tax VAT
Statutory compliance They also submit tax returns etc. and interact with government bodies (in the UK, HMRC, or companies’ house), etc. Stock
Stock levels - can It be verified An idea of corporate tax liability as you are going on
Money
How you can take money out of the company Whether the company director’s account is overdrawn Whether you can declare dividends
How to get hold of Allison allison@mintaccounting.co.uk
Mintaccouting.co.uk How to get hold of Allison
Classic Amazon Accounting Mistakes Allison Walker talks about Amazon accounting mistakes and discusses practical solutions that are most applicable to your business.
Mint Accounting works for these sellers: Anyone selling on Amazon based in the UK and or those registered for VAT inc Canadians and Americans Classic Amazon Accounting error 1: “Swapping” your amazon account between a sole trader and Limited Company.
Depending on how you do this, you’ll likely need a new VAT registration number It’s usually more tax-efficient to use the new VAT number You can end up with a big-time lag
Amazon can take a long time to update records You may end up with an old VAT number
How to move your Amazon business from sole trader to Limited Company in UK
Incorporate directly - you’re just rolling Sole Trader into Limited Company, which keeps same VAT number But it can be more tax-efficient to sell your Sole Trader business to your Limited Company; which means you have a new VAT number in the new company.
This can mean you have to operate the two in parallel while Amazon works it through. Running Amazon as Sole Trader and limited Company in parallel Set up ltd co, had it VAT registered If you’re moving Sole trader to a limited company.
If you’re selling ST to LC, run the two in parallel from an Accounting Pov for about 6 months
Two sets of Xero books?
Although just have one Amazon account!
That gives you time if amazon is using an old VAT number until you get the point where they’re using the corrected VAT number.
You may not be trading via your ltd co, ie no sales yet, but you may be
Making purchases Incurring other costs
Amazon Accounting error 2 - Not dealing with numbers in bulk The key is to get the right Software in place The amount of data you get from Amazon seller central is crazy.
It’s good information but it’s huge amounts of info to process.
Getting the information into your accounting software can be tricky.
Link my books is the product that Allison uses.
It takes the info from Amazon and syncs it accurately with Xero How do we set up Xero for Amazon? Your accountant can do it for you - and this is by far the best way to do things. DIY is not a great plan!
How they want a chart of accounts structured is important so they can easily create statutory accounts (for tax authorities etc.)
You also need to know what you as the business owner need the accounts to do for you. Things to look out for setting up a Xero account:
Xero has a standard Chart of Accounts But based on understanding your business, you may wish to tweak things.
Amazon account setup: Detail vs. Bundling together info Try to break things out into separate lines for the accountant.
However, you might just as the business owner want things to be bulked together for monthly monitoring.
For example:
Depreciation - if you have assets - chunk it together
Vehicles Computer/IT equipment Desks etc.
Staff or sub-contractors - try to chunk those together
It makes it quickly easier to understand the cost base of your business
Amazon Accounting Error 3: VAT registration errors… When you’re starting out, there isn’t a lot of free cash. So many people avoid employing an accountant.
But then what happens is: you do quite a bit of Xero yourself eg bank reconciling
Unless you’ve had training, you get 3 months in, first VAT return and you find that everything is posted incorrectly!
You need to set up the VAT rates set up correctly at the beginning.
Better: get the accountant to do this:
Get them to set up a chart of accounts first 3-6 months of bookkeeping then you can do it yourself after 3-6 months
Example of a classic Amazon accounting mistake Laptop purchase counted wrongly as software cost, so posted to P &L
But for an accountant,
How to grow your e-commerce Business by Buying a Business On this podcast, Walker Deibel of Quiet Light Brokerage will be teaching about how to grow your e-commerce startup through acquisition.
Can a 7-figure Amazon seller grow an e-commerce startup through acquisition? Yes absolutely.
It’s a lot easier in the USA than the UK where 90% of deals in Quiet Light Brokerage in 2019 were in the USA.
Cash is so available right now while interest rates are low. Rule of thumb for buying an e-commerce business He’d want at least $100K to allocate towards acquiring an e-commerce startup.
If you have more, it’s easier.
Say you have $50K on your e-commerce startup, you could probably buy a business with an SBA loan.
A lot of it comes to your comfort with debt as a vehicle.
If you’re comfortable with maximizing debt
Make note you have the right skillset.
You could buy a business doing 500K
166K
83K will be principal and interest payments on the acquisition so you get about 183K in free cash flow.
Equity buildup takes the real estate model to e-commerce startup Acquisition entrepreneurship
With a physical asset like a house, you have the physical asset.
There is more of a margin of safety if you wait long enough, the real estate market will always turn around.
Walker bought the printing company first because the bank was willing to use the equipment as collateral. Porter’s 5 forces of Strategy
Harvard strategy Customer power Supplier power New entrants Competition
Threat of substitution Channel concentration is also needed.
In online you need to add “marketplace power”.
If you have an e-commerce startup that is 100% on Amazon, Risks might be
Algorithm changes Organic ranking changes Start charging $20 for no reason on every ad
You could look at something driven by Google or Amazon but this is a virtual version of selling all your products via Walmart. How to Lower Risk of an Amazon business The trend - Amazon has become acceptable.
You could say that all Amazon businesses have a type of risk.
At QLB, they sell all types of online businesses.
24 months ago, buyers were saying “Why would I buy an FBA business?”
⁃ “Amazon has too much power”.
Today 2020 Amazon has become a completely accepted distribution channel. Just like Google.
Coffee maker example
“This is really crowded”
Great organic rankings 100s of reviews Historical performance of Email list off Amazon
You can use this as an infrastructure to build a new e-commerce startup business.
Wide-open markets
Let’s say you launch in this, then a 2nd one does. The mindset of e-commerce entrepreneurs vs. Investors - is there a different mentality? Not so much a difference but some people just don’t know about the model.
90% of self-funded buyers never actually end up buying something.
They don’t know what they are looking for. They look at it like items on a menu.
If you order a ham and cheese sandwich, you don’t need to know anything.
Before you start to shop and understand what it is you bring to the table.
What does the empirical evidence suggest makes a successful entrepreneur?
An intelligent, driven individual committed to a good opportunity.
Intelligent - It is correlated to success
Driven and committed. - You put in the success equity and get it done The aptitude of the business buyer What skill sets do they bring to the table? Spectrum between:
⁃ Revenue generator
⁃ Profit maximizer (reduces costs)
People have a natural tendency to live in one place or another on the spectrum knowing how you want to spend your time. Racing bikes tell you what you kind of business buyer you are Men buy based bikes on what they want to be.
Women buy based on where they are today!
For example, Walker has a $20K bike he doesn’t ride. Two types of people who want to be in Amazon
On this podcast, Walker Deibel of Quiet Light Brokerage will be talking about startups and the business buying process.
“Buy then Build” Part of the business buying process is “Buy then Build” has been adopted by two universities as a required textbook
But Walker spends 40 hours a week at Quiet Light Brokerage
And there’s a reason why he wants to help “acquisition entrepreneurs”. Walker Background Walker is the author of Buy then Build - how acquisition entrepreneurs outsmart the startup game and a business broker at Quiet Light Brokerage Was an SEC-registered, stockbroker
Also M & A person - familiar with private middle markets
Also works as a business broker
⁃ Has bought ½ dozen companies himself - only one was a straight-up e-commerce
Also done a couple of startups and had a couple of exits himself
⁃ Had a fulfillment center
⁃ Now works for Quiet Light Brokerage
The other is “buy than build” which is also a book What brought you to Quiet Light Brokerage? Pre 2010 the first company he bought was a book printing company.
He was charged with the mission of getting a brick and mortar entity online
They called it “print is dead”.
Walker had some strategic business issues to address and grow through acquisition. Searching for a business to acquire Looked at 100s of companies from lists and 27 in real life
Quiet Light has a team made up of entrepreneurs that have done this means they make a better prospectus.
In the end, Walker was given a chance to sell him a brokerage.
Walker ended up buying a company from QLB and it came up organically.
He just asked Mark. Prospectus Most entrepreneurs don’t even think about buying business until they’ve sold.
Then 60-90
“Gosh that startup period is so hard, I’d rather buy and cashflow immediately” Zero to One startup - Peter Thiel - creating a whole new marketplace.
That is a true venture capital market
Most people are trying to do an N+1 thing - you’re not creating a whole new market. What is the purpose of a startup? But most people are aiming for creativity, autonomy, financial independence.
Part of the business buying process is to give away stock in your company for equity
aim: “build infrastructure such that the output of the infrastructure is bigger than the cost”
The startup phase is defined by not having a bigger output
Only 4% of companies in the USA ever exceed $1M
(“Scaling up” Verne Harnish)
SBA lends up to 90% of the transaction value of businesses.
Downpayment close to that of a home in America
The minute you can stop focussing on cash flow, you can start focussing on how you Moneyball
There is an analysis on SABRE metrics - batters who get on base, rather than home runs, they cost less money and they can win at baseball.
The Red Sox adopted this.
IF you acquire a business generating $1M in annual revenue, you’re already
It’s somewhat affordable, it’s a margin of safety,
Lower multiples than the middle-market so cheaper. Startup success rates vs SBA acquisition People put in capital, sweat, 2 years trying to get it off the ground.
90% of them fail - they go to ZERO!
Businesses that have been acquired using loans from the SBA - 3 years
⁃ Default rate has been as 2%
So if you define Entrepreneurship
Despite the necessity and importance of entrepreneurship, it’s still a crude and error-prone process Investment perspective Pretend you’re going to buy a business with
Metrics
$1.4M in revenue
$200K in earnings
Buy for 3X profit
SBA loan plus 10% down payment
So invest $94,120 Future You’ll hold it for 10 years
Grow at 10% a year
Then at the end $3.9M rev,
$600K earnings
Sell for $2.5M
After interest etc. discretionary earnings are $5M approx. including exit cash
27X ROI on the 94K “We’re going to 10X this sucker” Entrepreneurs in a startup often say this. But you just 27x your capital.
Learn how Ashley Pearce implemented the Innovation Room in E-commerce. Find out the strategies that come with it and how you can use it too.
Why do something more than pure eCommerce?
Ashely and his team had learned a lot about Google SEO and mimicking from the Amazon affiliates. While doing Pinterest more scientifically for their own Amazon business. All the way through to using SEO to warm up audiences; then using retargeting ads to actually get sales.
Strategy led
Some of the tactics and strategies they have developed are big picture and have taken a lot of R & D. They would at home in an 8- or 9-figure business. They are strategically-led and not just tactics/scrappy.
IC/FC - intellectual capital vs. Financial Capital Ashley’s team had generated all the Intellectual capital and know-how and Ashley is commonly acquainted with how this gets evaluated in a corporate environment.
Then the question became: how do we turn our know-how (IC) - google, Pinterest SEO, high ROI ads - into capital? (Ie how do we monetize our knowledge?) Why go the agency route rather than the capital raising route? Ashley has become quite good at using credit cards and loans to get through cash peaks.
It does come down to particular days in fact.
However, to take on higher-risk capital in an organization where you are trying to run quickly - there is an underlying feeling that an Amazon account suspension could trip you up. If they took on a high-interest bank loan with security, they don’t understand the Amazon space - they wouldn’t have a clue how to react eg repayment within 90 days. Venture capital - Rand Fiskin - founder of Moz When one of his friends says they just raised capital, he says well done - but your business is finished!
So Ashley is wary of outside capital investors.
Download Worksheet Engine Room/Innovation Room How did you arrive at Future State Media as an idea? (It’s a change of direction) MICAS Framework - briefly, IC and FC, hence FSM, Mention 2 Rooms
MICAS means: Monetise Intellectual Capital Assets Systematically
Just because the business model is different, doesn’t mean you’re not using the same skills/knowledge. FC/IC - Financial Capital/Intellectual Capital
The whole idea is to be able to unlock FC eg assets and IC and monetize those Sometimes you need to do more with what you already have. It’s doing a stock-take of both the IC and FC.
The mechanism for unlocking IC: There’s a mechanism - the 2 rooms: Engine Room and Innovation Room for eCommerce.
The engine room generates cash and moves FC.
The innovation room for eCommerce isn’t necessarily a function that is alive in all businesses.
Financial innovation or product innovation for example for Innovation Room in eCommerce.
This is very applicable to an eCommerce business
Download Worksheet Engine Room/Innovation Room How would someone apply the 2 rooms in their eCommerce business - and why? Why does it? Mentality, long term view, stay ahead of the competition who are innovating (newcomers are doing nothing but innovate whilst you're busy running your business).
In Ashley’s eCommerce business, they had a great innovation room and were deployed back into the Engine room.
Used small cash to develop innovations and short time - in some cases 9-12 months.
In the innovation room, still healthy - doing things that wouldn’t offer to clients yet. Surely these conflicts and contrasts with simplifying and focus? Focus and simplifying and shorter-term thinking is a helpful mindset for the Engine Room
However, different rules of physics apply in the innovation room! That’s where the conflict and contrast come in.
Misapplication of the 80/20 in the innovation room is a particularly big danger. If you just focus on what's performing now, you miss out on what will perform in the future. It doesn’t account for the future - eg Amazon ads, Google Ads,
Listen to how Ashley Pearce discusses Intellectual Capital vs. Financial Capital and how he approached the eCommerce platforms. What have you been up to Ashley, since you were last on the Podcast? On eCommerce side:
Set sights on 7 figures, on track for that. Existing SKUs have grown in revenue a little But revenue is on track for 40-50% growth, mostly fuelled by launching new SKUs and staying in stock on existing SKUs.
Organic Traffic for eCommerce via Future State Media - an agency offering
Multiple businesses as well eCommerce side Like to “implement at the speed of thought”: Team has been experimenting and testing. Lots of organic traffic strategies - grew Google traffic to own eCommerce site by 1600%
Google Traffic to Ashley’s own eCommerce site
In Jan 2019 about 500 visitors per month from Google By the end of 2019, in excess of 8000 a month This was after a Google update in November - came back better than before in Jan
Google strategies
Invested in content Focus on long-tail keywords Site structure Deep research of competition Influencer marketing - more for Getting “good SEO juice” than for traffic
Free SEO guide What brought you to Google?
Started with Amazon advertising - and ended up pretty much breaking even. You don’t have the possibility of remarketing as an Amazon seller, either. The increasing cost of Amazon advertising
Ashley looked at adjacent industries to eCommerce for high ROI traffic. High ROI is important - it’s not so much just low cost when considering Intellectual Capital vs Financial Capital.
Amazon Affiliates make a meagre commission - maybe 5% - so don’t have a lot of money to play with and they went after Google SEO. But a lot of them have profitable businesses. So they have had to get very effective at Google SEO. Insight into action This insight pushed Ashley over to external traffic especially Google SEO.
But Ashley’s eCommerce company had the possibility of getting a higher margin, as a private Label business, than the Amazon affiliates had been getting.
Ashley invested in 2 team members to explore that strategy as he explored Intellectual Capital vs Financial Capital. Cost of Google SEO
Content is the tip of the iceberg. So the cost is not just hiring a writer. Keyword research is key - including related keywords. There must be a predetermined keyword structure in place before you write the article. Then you need to do internal linking and site structure work afterward.
For 2019 the cost of the overall project was around $8,000-10,000 to establish the strategy. That involves Research and Development.
If they had spent $8-10K in ads, they would have had more immediate feedback; but a lot less ROI. Free SEO guide Future value This $10K investment should yield over 150,000 site visitors this year from that content even in 2021 - budget based on a 3-year lifespan - have some good benchmarks. But some could be over 5 years.
So ROI is good over the long term. How long does it take the content to rank in Google? This comes back to the “Google sandbox”. Your website is put in that when you first launch. Google is still assessing whether you give Google the right signals in that period, as Amazon does with your product listing.
Google will not give you a great ranking for 6-12 months.
However after that, FSM has requested indexing and within a day, found content showing in SERPs (Search results).
And after a month, ranking much higher. So once you’re out of the sandbox, you can rank articles quite swiftly. Free SEO guide How to choose long-tail keywords Some people have their own Woocommerce or Shopify stores and are looking for alternatives to paid advertising. 2 approaches to eCommerce SEO Approach 1: “How do I rank my chess set at the top of Google?” That’s highly competitive and you’ll have to constantly stay ahead of the competition with expensive SEO.
Improving your CEO Skills means looking at all the angles. It could be from a cashflow point of view to other skills and competencies.
Why did Terry create this? Always had a coaching aspect to their business. For business owners, there is a huge need for business owners to understand their financial statements.
Example:
Terry has been coaching for 2 ½ years.
He Owns 3 repair shops - a lot of companies coach you how to run a shop.
Others will teach how to run a dental office.
But that doesn’t teach creating financial statements, reading financial statements. CEO2CEO programme (Chief Everything Officer to Chief Executive Officer) There are 3 main aims:
Teach people financials. Teach bankability - Is it lendable by a bank? Non-financial things that can affect the value or saleability of the company.
Teaching financials People need to have correct financial statements and then understand them.
They Teach 8-10 financial ratios. Teaching bankability Create a debt schedule and understand how a bank would view your business. Non-financial aspects These may not reduce the value of your company so much as make the company unsellable. If you’re counting on this. Financial statements Primarily income statement and balance sheets. Key Ratios Current ratio - current assets divided by current liabilities. You want that around a 2.
Accounts receivable days - how long it takes you to get paid.
The accounts payable days - how long it takes you to pay suppliers.
Inventory days - how many days do it take you to flip your inventory? Which Profit ratios really matter? It’s NOT about sales and net income. It’s about gross margin and cash flow. Gross profit margin is really important. If your sales are going up but your gross margin is going down, you are absorbing expenses.
Cashflow margin - is it staying consistent or going up or down?
Again, if your gross margin is going up but this isn’t, you are adding a lot of overhead. Traditional accounting issues The traditional accounting compares sales and net income from one period in one year to a comparable period in the previous year, eg. Jan 2020 cf. last Jan 2019. This is not useful in Terry’s eyes.
You need to look at the monthly trend. How do the Accounts Receivable (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP) matter? If you have a cash shortage, you may need a line of credit etc. to fund that.
So, 27 AR, 12 AP - had 15 days to fund before received cash.
With $100K a day in sales, 15 days = $1.5 Million is needed.
If you doubled the sales, you’d need $3 Million to fund that. Working Capital This is the cash you need to fund the day to day activities of your company.
If your AR days are 30 and that’s $0.5M, you’ll have bills in that time period, how much money do you need to cover that gap? Cashflow planning The amount of cash you need in your company is a CRITICAL number so you NEVER run out of cash.
You can be profitable and go out of business if you don’t understand the working capital needs of the business. Bankability Growth requires a lot more working capital!
Growing too fast can actually make a bank judge a company negatively.
A friend of Terry’s has a blue-collar company - he didn’t understand the financial statements!
You’ve got to get the financial statements.
Your debt schedule depends on:
What was the loan amount? Collateral? Monthly payments? When is the loan due?
This gets to the debt service ratio.
Say you take a 20-year loan out on a property.
If you’re 15 years in, you might be able to refinance that loan to get expansion money for your company.
They borrowed $100K for the company but refinanced the debt and LOWERED his payments by $6K a month Debt service ratio Typically banks will lend on 1.25 multiple (ie. net cashflow is 1.25X loan repayments).
Terry prefers to see 1.7X multiple. Balance Sheet =collateral for bank
We talk about the business valuation process with Terry Lammers. Who helps people buy and sell the business; values businesses and coaches in the programme.
Terry Lammers of Innovative Business Advisors https://innovativeba.com/
Terry helps people buy and sell the business; values businesses and coaches in the programme CEO to CEO “Chief Everything Officer to Chief Operating Officer” Terry’s book: “You don’t know what you don’t know”
Everything you need to know to buy or sell your business Getting an accurate valuation of your company What are the classic errors that people make?
People overvalue their business!
Terry has trademarked the “bankability method” - they usually value the business in the way a bank would:
Can you make a reasonable downpayment at the bank and buy the company within 3-5 years?
That’s the main deal for buyers. What do we need to think about when selling? The main part of the value comes from accurate financial statements.
This is something many business owners or managers struggle with, even those who run quite large businesses. Normalising the statements Terry has owners go through “Normalising” financial statements.
Which includes:
Depreciation and Amortisation Seller discretionary earnings EBITDA
EBITDA is NOT pre-tax profit! Your company is not about sales and net income, it’s about Gross margin and cashflow.
Depreciation
Depreciation is a non-cash expense you use to write down.
You can take a large chunk in one year “USA” eg buying a truck Normalising owner’s salary Sometimes the owner doesn’t pay themselves anything. If so, they need to add in money to account for this.
If there is an overpayment of salary eg $300K pa for a $1M a year revenue business, you add back in the difference. In this instance, you might add back $200,0000 to the net profit and take just ascribe $100,000 to the director’s salary.
When you have expenses like cellphone bills, you need to be able to invoice the company specifically for bills.
Saying that of $10K for phone expenses “about 3K is personal” is not going to be popular with any buyer of the business. Determining fair Director’s salary In the USA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics can give you a fair number.
If a company cashflows $100K a year, if a fair salary is $50K, it only gives the company a profit of $50K for example. What do you do about any equipment? Say a computer or a machine - you buy this to create cashflow.
If the value of the cash flow exceeds the value of the equipment, you have goodwill in the company. Book value vs market value Excavating companies have a lot of equipment.
The “Book value” of the computer does not represent the “market value” of the computer.
If you have a computer worth $1000 new, and after 4 years, the book value of it is $200, you can sell it at “book value” of $200. But that doesn’t tell you about the cash flows which that asset enables the company to generate. Owner involvement in the valuation Owner excessive involvement doesn’t do much affect the financial valuation of the company. But it may often push a company from sellable to unsellable. Financial vs Strategic Valuation Financial valuation
If $50K is the profit (Cashflow), $50K manager’s salary.
Start with $50K as the cashflow.
Then usually multiply 3-4X to get the business valuation.
Strategic Valuation
Terry sold his business for a large multiple because it was a valuable strategic purchase for the buyer to eliminate a strong competitor to the market and had a lot of assets. Multiple Company value is usually a multiple of EBITDA.
But the multiple is not set - within the “bankable deal” theory it’s based on cashflow. (Debt service coverage ratio) Bankability The bases of any loan are collateral and cash flow. Collateral What can the bank put a lien on that they could sell if they don’t get paid?
Most of the time,
On this podcast, Rytis Lauris will be talking about improving your multichannel campaign management using SMS, Facebook Messenger, synch with Google and Facebook Ads.
Why SMS Marketing is essential in multichannel campaign management? The SMS Click rate of 14%
600% higher order rate than email campaigns
21% more via SMS campaigns
The open rate is very high as long as there is a higher level of intimacy
But it is more challenging to get permission
You need to promise not to spam them
It is very easy to unsubscribe now
Usually, people who have subscribed via SMS How do you ascribe value to a multi channel platform? SMS tends to be the inner circle of your brand advocates.
The list will be much smaller compared to email.
So use SMS to communicate with your best customers.
You can go further and connect your SMS with your support chat if you have SMS support. Email lists - second circle Existing customers
Those just visited Facebook or Google ads - "the third circle” The point of the list Why is it important to have a multi channel platform organised together? Usually, organisations use 5 different tools to run marketing via 5 different channels.
If you start 5 different camp’s via
Email SMS Messenger FaceBook ads etc.
You start flooding customers with messages
So it’s really important to put all customers How do we go from pretty much manual selling to automate? If you have 100,000s of customers, you have to have an automated system.
In some channels, you can have two-way communications,
Eg messenger
Eg2 customer support
Trigger-based brings things closer to a personalised experience
Personalisation and relevance are really important. So it’s worth the effort. Starting points Approach 1 - add one channel a=t a time Start with say, take your email campaign and add a one-second channel.
Then add a third channel, analysis it, play with it, test it, Approach 2- Marketing Channel Strategy Combos for specific purposes Eg SMS is a great primary channel for order followup
Have a clear picture of the customer journey
Which moment? How do we get a clear picture of the customer journey? We need to analyse our own customer data.
Initially, you need to get a single customer view that is very clear.
Pick some customers and analyse them one by one
Then based on your insights, build segments
You should be able to communicate in different ways as needed
Promotional messages Transactional messages
The classic customer journey Most start by visiting websites - so retention marketing starts there.
The first goal is to convert them to a subscriber.
The second stage is to convert subscribers or those showing intent to buyers.
The next stage is to convert from a buyer to a repeat buyer. Funnels and automation Don’t put all your customer base on one funnel or one automation Example of starting this process You probably want about 15-20,000 subscribers across various channels
It also depends on how many SKUs you have in your store.
The fewer you have, the simpler it is to build automation.
Say one business is selling a few SKUs in the CBD oil markets.
Customers are pretty loyal.
Those who google this product shows some decent A visitor to subs conversion So their goal is to convert visitors to subscribers
They are playing a lot with individualised popups depends on
- time on site
Different page eg different product
The sales cycle is quite long 6 months to reorder
So they work with ways to shorten this eg buying a product as a gift.
Usually something related to the first product - promote something complementary because the product is still being used. How to learn more from Rytis and Omnisend Omnisend.com - can find a lot of articles
The resources page is there too - download a lot of white papers including SMS, email stats.
Email: rytis@omnisend.
We discuss the basics and importance of omni channel marketing solutions, omni channel data and omni channel communication.
Background Rytis is the Co-founder and CEO of Omnisend which is an omni channel marketing automation tool for e-commerce What is omni channel marketing? And why should e-commerce sellers use it? All of the e-commerce used to be separated - online and offline were very separate.
In 5-10 years, customers will be able to buy wherever they want to.
Online Social media On phones Offline/in store
The idea of “e-commerce” will be just “commerce” or “retail” Marketing will also be Omni Channel It’s a variety of channels
Promotion
Apply Omni Channel Communication with existing customer bases.
Email, SMS, Facebook and Google ads - good lookalike audiences
Popup trend Around Christmas, there are seasonal stores
Even in spring, there are a lot of 1-2 month popup stores Owning the channel and permissions You don’t own channels like Amazon Amazon is moving offline Amazon has more data than anyone else
That enables personalisation
Omnisend is trying to bring that ability to Amazon
Ecommerce is booming but the lack of personal experience is an issue.
Offline gives you that opportunity Why isn’t email alone enough? It IS still the most effective channel. But we should augment that.
We should broaden our definition of “subscriber” as a consumer who gave us permission to communicate with them regularly.
Allowing customers to choose the most preferred channels is important.
However, email has and will survive.
Omnisend started 6 years ago and it was just an email service provider.
The venture capitalists struggled to. Omni Channel Data through Personalised messaging -what is it? Based on simple personal data eg name, city.
More important is to personalise the messages and automating the data from the online store or the data you get from the customer's Behaviour.
It’s based on triggers which initiate an auto campaign
Eg if someone is looking at a specific category based on their browsing.
So you can provide automated campaigns related to that.
It’s not about demographics - may be the same person will be wanting a scarf in 3 months. What are the mechanics of that process? Shopify and Omnisend - connect Shopify with a marketing automation tool
Build an initial profile based on past transactions
When was last transaction
When was the age shopping cart
Do front end Excel tracking customer’s data based on their permission.
So the content of the newsletter is often not related to that so there is room for improvement What to do in response? Start an automated campaign…
send an email, maybe 2 emails (most cost-effective
If no transaction, continue to send Maybe messenger Maybe WhatsApp
If nothing happens, push the data to Google and Facebook ads
Depends on which communication channel you have permission for SMS may be the initial channel. What is the value of SMS compared to email? SMS is very effective but costs a little more than email Gathering Multiple Permissions You can get a form and ask for permission via various channels
Then your customer can tick the boxes they prefer Then it can be more contextual: A traditional popup, which is still very effective (which converts a lot of visitor to sub) can be emailed only
On the checkout box, you can have a checkbox for the perm to get SMS
You already have a relationship with the store then.
On product page when OOS - would you like to sub via messenger and we can update you when back in stock.
Sub via push notifications, we’ll give you a code for free delivery, etc. Why use it for e-commerce? ROI is much higher compared to email on its own.
I just published some research on Black Friday 2020 campaigns.
SMS marketing is much more effective
Putting you Amazon FBA business up for sale can sometimes bring about mixed feelings. Learn if you are in a position to sell your Amazon business. Who Quiet Light Brokerage work with Quiet Light Brokerage help online entrepreneurs to plan and execute successful exits.
They work with both Amazon and E-commerce, plus SaaS. They work with a lot of “bootstrappers”.
Most clients have a business around for 2-3 years or more.
At the moment, one business around 25 years (ancient for internet business!). Business sales About $75M in enterprise value in 2019.
In 2020, expecting $100M.
Last year, 80% of Transactions were E-commerce businesses.
Around 55% of those were based around Amazon:
- 46% was strictly Amazon
10% mixed platform - including Amazon
A lot of businesses have an off Amazon element. But to qualify as a “mixed platform” business, it needs to have about a 50/50 split between on- and off-Amazon revenue. Mark Daoust’s Background Been doing online stuff for going on 20 years.
15 years ago had a content website. He was newly married.
Thought it would be fun to sell this. Hired an advisor (broker) and was very unimpressed.
Marked looked at the broker’s work and thought, “He gets 10% off the sale value - how hard could it really be?”.
This presented itself. Mark sold the business.
Mark worked in some fledgling businesses for a year - a good friend decided to sell a company. He knew Mark would help him with it. Mark did indeed get the business sold.
The first 2 years was about honing processes two achieve two main aims:
Making the transactions safe and secure in the M & A industry. How to really prepare a business for sale.
How Mark felt like a business seller There were the usual exclusive contract and long agreement.
But the broker didn’t seem to do much!
For the business brokerage, the industry norm is that the value is in the number of contracts you sign, a certain percentage of those work, and that is how the brokerage makes money.
Mark felt that the broker and seller interests were not aligned.
Mark wanted to help business owners understand what drove the value.
It makes the decision making cleaner. Mark’s experience selling his business Mark was just given a number for the value of $350K.
Then the 1st offer was junk $75K.
The second offer eventually went ahead at a slightly higher valuation, but still, way lower than Mark had been lead to expect.
The aim is to be a real advisor - what is the value of the asset I’m holding?
Should I sell or hold? It’s a critical decision and you don’t get two chances.
So you want to be well informed as a business seller. Why bother selling a business if it’s a successful one? Mark suggests you shouldn’t aim to sell a good business if…
It generates cash flow Not too much time Happy to do it
It’s usually harder to create a new business than you think. Partly because luck comes in, so in this case, do not put your Amazon FBA Business up for sale. Creating twin values You have 2 values in building your business
Cashflow (like stock dividend) You’re creating an asset (like the value of the stock) in your overall portfolio
There does come a point in time when selling makes sense. That’s when you realize the asset value. Why sell? Especially with the physical product business, most of the value you’ll get is when you sell.
The economics of e-commerce business -or even SaaS - is such that you have to reinvest most cash. The right time to sell a business There comes an inflection point in your life.
Eg: A client acquired a business 5 years before for $30-40K
It grew to about 400-500K per year in Profits (about $2M revenue)
“Why not continue to sell the business?” Asked Mark
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I keep the inventory in the second garage.
To grow this, we would have to get an office, staff, etc. Other life inflexions
Getting married
Reddit and Quora for Ecommerce traffic are not yet widely used by marketers. You can have a great advantage once you know how to wield these platforms.
Reddit Why Reddit is a great marketing platform in general
There are people looking up the stuff you’re trying to buy
There are self-forming communities
If Davis was buying supplements, 2 years ago, he would type in “product name” plus Reddit
They can’t do affiliate links there But you can put an ad in there. None of the big headphone companies was on the subreddit and there were 100K people there!
Reddit results in Google searches Try typing in a product name on Google
You’ll get Reddit results
A lot of times to get reviews, Davis will search on Reddit
It’s moderated so if it seems like you’re an affiliate, you get unbiased reviews Reddit ads costs
Costs depend on the Subreddit and competition level Reddit can. be as low as $1-2 to get CPM (1000 views) of people who have Compared to Facebook CPM $30-50
Trust is there - there are companies that have representatives on subreddits
(Eg Wendy’s the fast-food chain)
More and more brands are going on this. The chief brand officer of Reddit is pushing hard for this too.
This is similar to the trend with Facebook. It was also just users to start with - now it’s the bigger brands.
That’s the trend with Reddit too. How does Reddit compare to Facebook? Firstly, always put strategy before tactics
Think about where your audience is before you worry about shiny object Facebook vs Reddit mindset FaceBook is Baby boomer territory
People share photos etc.
Whereas on Reddit, people are in the highly specialist mode
Davis goes into wrestling subreddits for example.
He gets hit with an ad for wrestling belts - ads have been there for 2 years. Quora What is Quora?
It’s a Q & A platform
Like Google but has the Q and A aspect of Reddit:
Like: “What’s the best noise-cancelling headphones?”
Also, “What’s the best workout bench for my studio?”
Eg: “What’s the best brand for vitamins?” Why Quora is great for marketing It’s very public-facing - people put their FaceBook profile is
Not for everyone - if your product solves as an issue
Some kind of differentiated products.
“Everything I do that my competition chooses not to is a competitive advantage”
Quora is not yet widely used by marketers. 3 ways to hit the audience on Quora
Answer a question. You can advertise. Retarget them.
How to answer a question on Quora First of all, be a user of the platform
See what irks people How would a Quora user perceive it? If you’re selling a closet-hanger, it’s not the platform for you
Avoid being salesy!
Software companies do this well.
If anyone mentions your brand, you can click the ad and end up back at your site. How do software companies do this well? Monday.com (task management software) is good on Quora
They have reps who answer Qs there.
Also, they never pitch.
They point out the pain points.
The basic structure is:
“This is how to solve it yourself” “This is how Monday.com would solve it”
Davis has bought a lot of products based on Quora eg Headphones, Vitamins. Different mindsets on different platforms Eg Youtube vs. Facebook
On FaceBook you have to grab attention, whereas onYouTube, already have this - although you have to keep it.
In Quora, it’s similar to YouTube - people are there to get an answer. Quora best practices Davis has a friend who got an award for best Quora
He says “I just get straight to the point”
DON’T talk about how your brand is different Advertising on Quora Quora advertising basics
Headline Body Image
On FaceBook you can target age, gender etc. Whereas on Quora, you can target the kinds of questions they ask: Eg if you’re in financial services
You can also tag by categories eg digital nomad.
Traffic sources for business are all about knowing which one is the best ones to use. There are lots of new channels coming out and the shiny object syndrome comes up. Tune in to the most effective ones.
Background Davis takes online businesses to 7 figures within a year.
So far - coaching and info-product businesses.
Grandmother
Created a local store.
Lesson: perseverance as a value (overcame Robbery and arson).
Current business
Worked at a startup before became an entrepreneur
Started a side hustle in the living room while working at another company
Wanted to be able to work anywhere
Now lives/works in Asia or the USA (mostly San Francisco).
6 figure profit first year
7 figure profit second year
Did have one physical product
- tried to build a comfortable hiking boot
Got design made by an engineer But nobody bought it Sell 10 pairs to test it’s a viable market
How do you figure where to get traffic from? There are lots of new channels coming out when you try to find traffic sources for business.
Manychat was the business channel of choice in 2019.
Shiny object syndrome comes up.
Instead, Davis works on first principles.
Strategies
Give people the mindset of how to find traffic sources for business.
There are 2 axes on which to assess a traffic source: Axis 1: Relevance to my audience Eg Reddit, gaming platforms etc. - Reddit passionate community - $800.$1200
And not many competitors.
Davis’s target audience is those who want to be management consultants for example Axis 2: what is ROI? (Profit÷investment) That’s related to low competition
Early adoption Pricing of product -
what is the customer finds valuable
Example -Selling podia
Toastmasters international - sponsor those guys
How do you find where the audience is?
Literally talk to your customers!
Look at reviews How did you find out about our product?
Find out about traffic sources for business.
Example - ran the public speaking business -
Toastmasters
But Toastmasters was not good for one-on-one coaching Usually, salespeople or someone getting funding for business Eg someone trying to raise money
So probably at tech meetings Hang out a bit more A lot is on the Y Combinator hack forum
Where do you hang out
Also, think offline as well as online - for example:
You can sponsor events or clubs You could even give away a product for free to a club or organization.
How to identify the right traffic source Find out EVERYTHING about your target client:
Where do they hang out? Do they go to church?
You can’t just call people on Amazon. But you can get mailing addresses, so you could write to them (physical postcards for example) Example of physical product business We have a concept of who your audience is, but in reality, things emerge
Davis’s Client was looking out for doing offline marketing. They did an hour of reading reviews.
Identified a group of unexpected buyers on one listing: Probably parents - buying for PTA clubs. They checked the competition - the same picture.
So now the client is making a list of PTAs.
Think about how they found you. Mailing people If someone is willing to read a postcard from you, they are a fan
It’s not very scalable, but that’s not relevant to the exercise: we just need to really understand the target customer (NOT try to reach lots of them) What about scaling things? First of all, Toastmasters, for example, might be 300,000 people
Secondly, don’t worry about scalability.
“Do things that don’t Scale” - Paul Graham (the founder of Y-Combinator - the most successful startup accelerator in the world, incubator of eg Reddit, Twitter etc.) Are Facebook Ads still a good channel? Davis used to spend 7 figures on ads in a company
It does work - but it works if you know what you’re doing.
Email marketing and Amazon DPS is an advanced marketing platform that is new to sellers. You can learn more in today's episode with Brad Moss.
Brad Moss
CEO OF Product Labs, one of the largest Amazon consulting and technology companies in the world.
Former Business Lead of Amazon Seller Central Platform and the creator of the Amazon Seller App. What Product labs do for sellers Amazon brand management - full service.
Full amazon marketing. Innovative email technology (off and on Amazon)
Strategy and analytics - 12-month planning.
Support 7, 8 and 9-figure businesses. ($100 million a year) Email marketing It’s been around for a very long time. It can be effective.
It’s hit a point where it’s not nearly as sexy as PPC etc.
But Brad has developed a new system. What are the most important Email marketing principles Email campaigns - find people who are interested in topics.
They either opt-in or opt-out of emails.
Content about say, picture frames. Classic mistakes in email marketing Many people don’t do it, because It’s hard:
You’ve got to do a lot of work and you have to work hard to keep the email lists up.
Whereas the system means you don’t have to worry about that. Brad has a super innovative platform It keeps an audience populated eg “if you’re selling pencils, here’s the best writing position”
Results:
High open rates High click-through rates Targeted
They have 3 tiers, 1000, 2500, 5000 sessions
How many sessions do you want?
Can drive to Amazon, Shopify, etc.
System drops in people who have high purchase intent or high interest in your products.
The clients don’t have to do anything!
try.productlabs.net How would we recreate this ourselves? Keep finding people who are interested in the category
Generally, they guarantee to say, 5000 clicks in a month or 2500 etc.
They reverse engineer -maybe need 100,000 people to send it to. Can we have an example? Some people selling CBD - (Cannabis oil) - needed traffic to their website.
Wanted 1000 new people hitting site every month.
Email campaign for say $1000
Recorded traffic - got 1000 hits a month of fresh people.
If people drop out of the email sequences, they refresh them.
Open rates - good - but that doesn’t matter so much.
It’s pinned on
If it’s 3% CVR, that’s 30 new people. Advanced DSP - Demand Side Platform
Arrangement with Amazon
What is DSP?
This is an advanced marketing platform that is new to sellers
You have to do the creatives It shows up off amazon and on amazon On the 3rd party side, they’ve emphasised the pay per click side. You Can’t do it on your own - you’d need to do it via an agency
DSP is spotted in Amazon that you can’t access via Sponsored ads.
There are video ads on Fire TVs - you can actually access those.
For years, Amazon has also been advertising on other websites for years, eg CNN even Market Watch, ESPN.
You set it up and Amazon will put ads on the other places.
It’s on a CPM (cost per mille ie 1000) so it’s about views not clicks How does it fit into the Amazon advertising picture? Marketing your brand instead of a particular keyword.
Generally, you’d think it’s about brand building - traditionally the number is 7 touchpoints before people buy.
That said, RoAS with DSP has often been as effective as PPC. Maybe because it’s really early.
It’s not just about presence, it can be about direct response.
Brad is developing metrics to analyse
Ads go onto Affiliate sites
CNN Yahoo finance
Demographics targetting Amazon tracks people via cookies trying to get them into amazon
Amazon lets you target different groups.
It also gives additional insight into WHO you’re targeting.
Eg: demographics, profile
But you don’t get great detail direct from Amazon.
Product labs DO go into the Customer more - calculate LTV
It’s a sensitive topic.
Amazon metrics are a hotly debated topic. Sellers obsess over a range of KPIs. But which are core metrics and which are a distraction or less important?
What really matters in Amazon Metrics /eCommerce metrics Conversion rate and traffic are the most important Amazon metrics on the revenue side Under conversion rate, the key Amazon metrics are: Price point, reviews, images, text. They have got a product to $1M run rate without any reviews. So That is an example of a seemingly important metric (reviews, average rating) being trumped by other factors. What other Amazon metrics matter? On the traffic side: Organic traffic vs. Paid Traffic Organic traffic (page views) Is all about how you’ve set your product up in the “back end” Don’t move product category - it’s a short-term category - but Amazon can restrict you. All keyword research is critical. It all contributes to the Amazon SEO. The way the algorithm works - it basically works on sales! There is a ton of speculation - and Amazon is adjusting maybe based on ship speed and location. Paid traffic On Amazon: Headline ads, PPC Sponsored product ads, display ads. On Amazon DSP. Off Amazon traffic also. Look at the cost of traffic. Some of the art is balancing the paid and organic traffic. Not spending too much to put into paid - if it’s like that, positioning or backend is broken. 60-80% of traffic should be coming from organic across multiple products. How do we avoid letting strategy become too abstract or general? At Amazon, Brad would have to create a strategy and then create the execution side. For example, for the seller app: the strategy You have to make a business case first: we can make $x more dollars by creating an app for sellers. We’ll create 3 essential functions - people use mobile for:
Location agnostic events Emergency notifications (like a phone) When bored on the train etc.
So to deal with those, created
Scanning app on a product - UPC - shows the price on amazon and what you would make Urgent notifications - buyer-seller messaging - not in MWS or APIs - only in the mobile app. Trying to drive down the metric of buyer-seller response time. Result: average time went from 7-8 hours to three Bored - show sales because everyone is obsessed with sales. That’s why the dashboard is there.
These three features are what the users like. The strategy is a wrap-up of - what’s my opportunity? And what’s my differentiator? Do designs, build systems etc. - that’s all tactics. “Strategy=marketing strategy” by Verne Harnish (of Scaling Up) - discuss Marketing strategy might be a strategy in a growth scenario. However, a counterexample is that Amazon didn’t do any marketing for 15 years. Because they built a service based on the needs of consumers. He started with books because nobody had 100K books as a selection - a book store would have only 10K books. Product Labs have a framework they use - McKinsey type framework DOWNLOAD THE PDF FRAMEWORK HERE: https://www.amazingfba.com/framework
Seeing where gaps are in the market Is there a market for this? Is anyone even doing it? Are they selling premium or cheap products? Are people getting this? Examples of Finding Gaps Mattresses Mattress sales exploded online because you don’t have to get a truck to grab it. That was a HUGE market. What is out there and wasn’t hasn’t been penetrated. Consider the benefits of ecommerce and/or Amazon for the consumer. eBay has killed it with cars for example. Amazon’s rule You have to put things into something a child will understand. Some of the best business papers are very simple. Brad Moss CEO OF Product Labs, one of the largest Amazon consulting and technology companies in the world. Former Business Lead of Amazon Seller Central Platform and the creator of the Amazon Seller App. How to contact Brad Moss and Product Labs Have people get in touch via try.productlabs.net
Ecommerce growth strategy sounds too abstract to get round to. In fact it's often the critical differentiator as Amazon hacks lose effect.
eCommerce Growth strategy with Brad Moss Brad is CEO OF Product Labs, one of the largest Amazon consulting and technology companies in the world. They aim to be the "McKinsey of eCommerce". Former Business Lead of Amazon Seller Central Platform and the creator of the Amazon Seller App. What is eCommerce strategy in plain English? It means planning for the future. Especially for the unknown. Like chess - Brad used to think “you need to know every move that your opponent could make” In reality - after trying to teach chess - he realised that it’s about keeping options open. "I may not know what’s going to happen but if I take this step, it will open four opportunities. Whereas that step will open only one." How does an eCommerce growth strategy translate into action for 7 or 8 figure sellers? Brad uses statistics to back up everything. Brad at Amazon wasn’t just operating businesses - he was also creating new businesses for Amazon. Ask the right Questions What do you look at? How do you structure the metrics? Is it healthy? Is it going to be $100 million business? He got a lot of hands-on action - no training! - but experience. eCommerce Growth Strategy is not just about current product sales You don’t just look at - sales this week were $30K, how do I get to $35K next week? You look at last year’s metrics say $4M, and then look forward - set =goals then reverse engineer- eg I want to do $8M dollars next year. What’s a realistic growth rate in my category? Do I put new products in? Look at the failure rate too. You might say, expect 50% fail, 20% do really well, launch within 6 months, that would mean $4M in the following year. What mistakes do you see your clients making? Relying on one method is risky. There’s a lot of people who have a lot of success with one method and swear by that. Brad learned still at Amazon - you could use the same method on two products - one works, one doesn’t! Jumping to conclusions and over-simplifying is not going to work. Failure to plan:
You’ll pull the ads back because of profit The next month you’ll look at lower sales and change over
In the early days, you didn’t have to do anything like this. IN the early days, you could take a picture with a cellphone. The land grab has happened - now you need to do the real estate development. You need to start thinking longer term. Plan longer term You need a 3-year plan as well as a 12-month plan What’s the product group makeup? How could I pivot if needed? If this happens, what’s my backup plan? DOWNLOAD THE PDF FRAMEWORK HERE: https://www.amazingfba.com/framework
How do plans interact with improvisation and growth strategy? Examples of pivots Example - product not selling as expected. You might think it’s reviews - but it might be about the images. You need to look into the customers - segmenting into groups can be important. Marketing and images pivots The Squatty Potty - it’s about a silly unicorn in a video - it’s genius in how they changed the dynamic of marketing the product. Amazon has infinite shelf space so you need to think it being more interesting in the lifestyle image Eg is it a couple on the beach vs. Something more integrated in people’s life. Pricing pivots Apple products are made for a cost-effective price but the multiples are high because the brand is so strong. There may be room for a premium brand in your space. Typically they come in high but they can’t be premium
Product not good enough Images not good enough The consumer doesn’t perceive this
How do you actually get premium pricing? You have to be REALLY good at branding. Images You need to involve agencies for top photos. It’s a 10-20% difference. If someone comes in with something REALLY good. EBC and presentation Reviews
Do you need help in paying sales tax for your small business? Find someone who specialises in sales tax and eCommerce. Find out more on today's episode.
Ongoing filings - how does this work? You’ve got to now do your returns.
You’ll be given a frequency - monthly, quarterly or annually.
You’ll need to submit your sales tax return to the sates and pay it.
In some states, it’s 5 minutes’ work.
Some states eg Texas will take hours - city, county, district, special district. DIY It’s hard to do it manually without Software.
If you are planning to do it yourself, definitely use some kind of software
Eg: Taxjar, Taxify, Avalara Getting help Find someone who specialises in sales tax and eCommerce.
Even an accountant comfortable with eCommerce will probably not be able to help.
A “general” business accountant may well be no use at all in such a specialised area. How do payments work? Once you have a US bank account that should be easy. Tax collection The collection should be fine once you’ve set it up.
There is however a lot of nuances when you’re setting it up.
The technology hasn’t caught up with the law either! Technology Issues If you use a 3-party listing tool, it will often override account-level defaults for sales tax nexus.
If you launch 300 new SKUs and you don’t realise, that could be a big tax headache. Amazon Basically, they have tools inside seller central that make it easy to collect sales tax.
They give you flexibility around charging for shipping and gift wrap etc.
There are a few issues where Amazon is collecting the wrong tax in Arizona. It’s off by 2%
There is proof that Amazon is not getting it 100% right. But it’s very close generally. What about the argument that you are just making it easier for the states to chase you? There is some truth to making it easier for the states to find you.
If you don’t have a permit and aren’t registered with ANY local government, they’d have to audit a vendor or an Amazon warehouse.
Be aware that they DO audit Amazon warehouses all the time. Liability If you have substantial liability and ignore it for 10 years and get audited by a state, and have $100K in back tax liabilities, that is the kind of scenario that gets ugly. Bear in mind that you can’t really negotiate. The risk for International sellers vs. Domestic The risk of being audited is about the same for all sellers.
The number of businesses audited will be skewed towards the USA just because there are so many businesses. What is the risk of an audit by states? Generally, businesses get audited by states 1-3% of the time
States also share information with each other - even though they are not supposed to! Risk when selling a business If you are selling the business to another owner: when they do due diligence, if there are substantial sales tax liabilities, they will normally multiply that, take that off the amount they may.
Also for smaller business values (say under $1 million), you’ll often have a more amateur buyer eg: a retired doctor, lawyer, CEO etc. They are often much more risk-averse than the buyers (eg Private Equity funds) for bigger businesses. Having an open-ended liability in this kind of case could simply make your business almost unsellable. Risk Aversion Varies - 2 Examples Example 1: $1 million a year, nexus in 40 states.
They wanted to avoid all possibilities of future liabilities and simply registered everywhere.
Example 2: a client who lives around the world - in Bali, Switzerland, etc.
Doing over $2million a year has nexus in 30/40 states.
Only got permits in 3 states! Alex pointed it out but she is happy to take the risk! Parting thoughts At least figure out your liability!
Check out their website: https://thetaxvalet.com/
Need more detailed help? For more info on the subject, go to
FBA Sales Tax with Alex Oxford of TaxValet
Nexus Amazon with Alex Oxford of TaxValet
What is nexus Amazon? Learn why it's essential to learn about the tax nexus laws when you ship your Amazon items across different states.
How do we determine where a business has sales tax nexus? What is “nexus”?
You have a sufficient presence in a state to have sales tax responsibility. Sales Tax nexus results how?
Physical presence Economic nexus Affiliates Employees, contractors, renting or leasing property
The most common one for online businesses is an economic and physical presence. Physical presence If you’re based outside the USA, you may still have a physical presence if you have inventory stored there, including in FBA warehouses.
A number of FBA warehouses have been audited - eg: Wisconsin Economic Nexus Passing certain thresholds on Nexus Amazon.
Most common is $100K revenue, the other 200 transactions.
They vary a lot in how they define. Example If I ship in stuff to LA (CA), and it gets moved into 3 states… bear in mind that Amazon will redistribute the inventory across 40 states!
If the inventory were just in 3 warehouses (in 3 different states), that means you have nexus in those 3 states (ignoring Marketplace Facilitator Laws). You would need to get a sales tax permit, collect and remit sales tax on Nexus Amazon. Marketplace Facilitator Laws states Generally, you don’t have to get a permit.
However, in general, if you’re selling in a marketplace, you don’t have much.
How do we figure out which states have sales made? DIY Pull the transactions out and do some manual excel work with a pivot table.
Taxjar also has a tool that is helpful. Getting help There is a link on their website that has information which also provides services and analyses sales state by state. Analysis fee counts towards the first invoice if a client of TaxValet.
For nexus analysis, you look at many factors:
Transactions Where inventory is being stored Other areas like affiliates, other businesses, contractors
Affiliates Employees, contractors, renting or leasing property
Visiting trade shows can cause tax nexus!
Generally working with an affiliate doesn’t cause an issue but if affiliates are a substantial share of your revenue, it could create sales tax nexus. Getting permits Implications for International businesses Does it make a difference where you’re based? (Which country) It doesn’t make any difference in theory for Nexus Amazon.
There is a different process for international sellers.
What is the basic process of registration for sales tax for international sellers? Getting permit TIN
It can be difficult to submit the permit without a TIN people; you’d need an EIN (tax identity) for the company
EIN is simple - for companies - it’s also cheap to use an online service say $100 to get it for you.
TIN is much more challenging - it takes 3-4 months.
Alex has a partner who only does TINs for international businesses. Online systems These don’t work for international sellers eg: you can’t put in the address etc.
But many States have a paper application so use these if you’re outside the USA. Other issues paying Sales Taxes Paying sales tax
They often will only take a bank account and only a US bank account!
That means you can’t pay the tax!
Alex cleaned up for an Amazon seller based in Poland
Got permits in 20 states without a TIN.
They came after her for not paying the tax. She had the money but in a non-US bank account. Opening a US bank account You’ll need a TIN to get this.
You need typically to visit the US to open a US bank account.
However, Alex has a partner who can do this for you.
The States make it hard to do this! You can’t use a Transferwise number! Payoneer also doesn’t work.
You need a bona fide bank account.
To learn more about Tax from Alex Oxford, here are the other two episodes:
FBA Sales Tax with Alex Oxford of TaxValet
Sales tax is added to any taxable product. FBA Sales tax is no different, you collect it, you’re responsible and you have to pay it out to the government.
Alex Oxford founder of TaxValet - eliminates the hassle and stress of US sales tax for domestic and international companies. What is US sales tax? A complicated mess!
It’s very different to other countries eg UK. Many sellers are used to a VAT system.
Sales tax is added to any taxable product.
You have to remit it in a specific state if you have sales tax nexus.
This is very different from VAT - you calculate it at the point it is due.
You collect it, you’re responsible and you have to pay it out to the government. How can it impact e-commerce sellers? It gets particularly tricky if you have your own website.
An online company could still have sales tax implications for FBA Sales Tax.
It used to be based on physical presence in the USA but it’s no longer the case.
Just making sales in the USA could take responsibility for FBA Sales Tax.
If it goes wrong, you will have no money from the customers but you’ll owe the tax plus fines. Two major issues for e-commerce
Economic nexus Marketplace Facilitator laws
Economic nexus Wayfair vs. South Dakota 2018 Supreme Court Ruling.
South Dakota wanted to tax Wayfair (big retail company)
Wayfair claimed was unconstitutional. It worked up to Supreme Court and they made it legal.
Every state in the USA has since implemented economic nexus.
It’s usually based on threshold numbers, typically:
Number of transactions eg: 200 orders Revenue threshold - typically $100K, in CA $500K
What about Amazon only sellers? Is sales tax an issue for them? Practical answer - not really such an issue.
Technically - it depends on specifics! Marketplace Facilitator Laws New - coming into effect over last year or so.
Many but not all states eg CA, MI
If you’re selling exclusively on the marketplace, the mp is responding for collecting and remitting sales tax The States aren’t being straight with companies It’s hard to get a straight answer from the State.
In theory in many states, you can just use marketplace facilitator laws Practical vs. Technically correct way If you’re in the states where they have Marketplace Facilitator Laws, you COULD end up with issues.
Washington is a Marketplace Facilitator Laws has business and occupation tax (B&O tax)
About half of Marketplace Facilitator Laws states say don’t worry; half want something more. Technically correct answer If you reach out to the states and read statutes, they have not said that they have let sellers off.
Alex has hounded each state 20-30 times!
They wanted an officially signed letter or put it on the website.
This matters because if you’re only selling on a marketplace BUT if Amazon is giving the data to the state, the state COULD determine you had nexus in the state. And then penalise you for not submitting returns and not having a sales tax licence. The United States is not so united! There are over 12,000 potential business taxes in the USA.
There are different definitions of what is taxable state to state.
Eg: one state might define diapers as only for kids; geriatric ones might be taxable. Amazon TOS Read this - you’re on the hook if something goes wrong. Which states to worry about most CA, FL, TX, WA, IL
CA is a Marketplace Facilitator Laws state.
FL is NOT;
WA is - BUT they have ancillary tax
IL is not a Marketplace Facilitator Laws state yet but will be in early 2020
The single one you should worry most about is Washington State. How to approach this practically Figure out your exposure and liability.
If you’re just getting started, say you have FBA inventory in a state, let’s also say it’s not a Marketplace Facilitator Laws state, if it’s just $100/month, it would be such a burden, you might decide to
What are the stages of business growth? Is your goal fast business acceleration? Listen to today's episode to learn about Amazon's rapid growth.
Steve Anderson, author of “The Bezos Letters”. More info, book, bonuses: Amazingfba.com/Bezosletters
What are the most important principles for fast scaling businesses? They are all important. They stand on their own and interact. Hardest may be Principle 6 -the Flywheel Early 2001, after the Dot Com bubble, Jim Collins published a book October 2001 Good to Great.
He was invited to Amazon by Bezos to talk about the book. He focussed on Chapter 8 in the book, the Flywheel. Collins found that great companies were great at building and articulating their flywheel.
The “S” team actually sketched out the core flywheel for Amazon. It’s on the site and in the book.
It’s about the flywheel - it is heavy and takes a lot of effort to get moving.
But once it’s moving, it tends to keep moving as long as you keep feeding it energy. At the centre of Amazon, the flywheel was growth. The energy inputs were:
Get customers Great customer experience More customers More sales More negotiation power with manufacturers to lower price Add marketplaces - more sellers
They are still trying to feed that same flywheel today.
Any business should sketch out its flywheel. It may be something different and contribute to the stages of business growth.
The concept applies to any type of business. How to apply this? What is your core? For Amazon it was growth.
From the beginning, Bezos felt they had to grow rapidly. They reinvested profits into building traffic and fulfilment infrastructure. Then - what do you do today or can do that will help with that growth?
How do I bring customers to my site? Or my Amazon listing? Maybe it’s advertising now. How do I build that customer base? How can I continue that growth? What other streams of income can I add to the business?
It takes time. It will probably take several months. Jim Collins updated chapter 8 in 2019. He published a monograph on the flywheel. He talks about businesses he has worked with on the flywheel.
He also did an interview with Tim Ferriss.
Particular principles In Growth cycles and stages of business growth. TEST Encourage successful failure in the stages of business growth.
How does it look in practice for a scaling e-commerce business?
The concept is that you WILL fail - how will you respond to failure? And if employees fail?
Bezos says that Amazon is the best place to fail as an employee because they don’t punish failure.
It’s not about incompetence. Incompetence is not tolerated at Amazon.
But failed outcomes are. What is risk-averse? What is too risky?
Calculated risk. ACCELERATE High-velocity decisions in the stages of business growth.
The 6-page memo “Slowing down to speed up”.
(This applies to type 2 decisions as well) They have some tools. If they call a meeting to move forward. Powerpoint and keynote presentation is banned. Instead, the meeting leader puts out a 6-page memo.
Including things like:
-
Frequently asked questions.
-
Write out a future press release.
It is also not sent out ahead of the meeting; it is handed out DURING the meeting - everyone has time to read it.
Bezos says that a good memo probably takes a week.
The memo never has names on it - it comes from a team/dept.
Also part of what you get in the memo is how the customer will benefit. Brief and debrief The memo is what we thought we would do.
Here’s what actually happened. Which principle tends to get neglected by scaling companies? Principle 14 - it’s always Day One
It’s so important to Jeff Bezos.
He ends “As is my habit, I attach a copy of my 1998 letter”
I believe it’s always Day One.
It’s the name of the main building.
He wants employees, customers, shareholders to understand that the mindset is: It’s alw...
Learn about the best E-commerce traffic source and how to get on the map and optimize your traffic. Listen in to today's episode with Tommy Griffith.
How we get traffic on Google for e-commerce? The first thing is keyword research on any platform.
On Amazon, you have product viability to deal with as well.
In the beginning, you should over-invest in keyword research.
When you’ve clarified your customer,you want to layout the entire universe of the things they search for.
You’ll end up using a lot of this if you have own business - in content marketing (eg blog posts), email, social media marketing, etc.
Get a decent proxy for demand via keyword search volume from an E-commerce traffic source.
https://amazingfba.com/clickminded free mini-courses, free SEO strategy guide. Favourite SEO tools kwfinder.com
ahrefs.com
Sometimes they have amazon specific tools How do we approach “The universe of search” as e-commerce sellers? Depends whether you’re at the early stages - “I’m looking for products”
“I know my customer avatar” and have several SKUs. SEO for the established Amazon seller Take all your core keywords and put them into a 3rd party tool.
Find ALL the different variations eg BBQ - purple handle, green handle, one is for winter, one for summer.
This is a good inspiration for new products.
If someone does a lot of barbecuing - who is the avatar?Why are they barbecuing?
Once you’re really dialled into your customer avatar, you lay out the entire universe of google searches. Google Search results show more than searches Google search especially is a proxy for demand and thoughts for an E-commerce traffic source.
HTC picked colours of phones based on Google search.
Google trends data predict flu epidemics these days, thanks to tracking flu-related keywords.
You can capture all of that to one document (eg a large spreadsheet)
This can drive so much, including:
Content strategy Product dev strategy Office set up Emails YouTube videos
Total Addressable Marketing (TAM) for ecommerce SEO
For an E-commerce traffic source, you need to do some maths based things like - TAM - Total Addressable Market sizing
At Airbnb, Tommy used to look at areas for “Guidebooks” for Airbnb - on topics like:
“Things to do in [city name]” “Restaurants in [city name]” “Walking tours in [city name]” “What do locals do in [city name]?”
What is Total Addressable Market? Let’s say you’re looking at BBQ grill sets.
First, layout the “total universe” of related search terms.
Every variation of BBQ grill is one bucket, eg
Propane, non-propane, electric Large, small, industrial size etc. etc.
Also, layout types of keywords and bucket into types of “intent”.
Effectively every page of your site focuses on one of these for an E-commerce traffic source. Top of funnel and bottom of funnel keywords for ecommerce SEO
Bottom of funnel keywords are very specific and imply searchers are ready to go and buy.
Top of funnel keywords shows less buyer intent eg “10 things you should think about before you BBQ”.
Apply a CTR Click Through Rate percentage for an E-commerce traffic source.
Tool:
Advancedwebranking.com
This shows the value of position #1, #2, etc. ranking
For example for a certain search term, the #1 position might be 35% of clicks
In general, Tommy sees 75% of clicks go to the top 3 results on Google.
You can start to create a “Theoretical maximum amount of traffic” orTotal Addressable Market (Wikipedia definition) Process for finding TAM:
Find the universe of keywords Capture these (eg on a spreadsheet) Divide into buckets, based on categories and top/middle/bottom of funnel [level of buying intent] Apply Conversion rate calculations [this gives you the total number of potential sales] Apply a price point to this to get [this gives you the value per sale]
SEO Positioning can help leverage your Amazon business and is broader than any single platform. Dive into today's episode with Tommy Griffith.
Tommy Griffith founder of Clickminded and former SEO Manager at Paypal and Airbnb
https://amazingfba.com/clickminded - free mini-courses, free SEO strategy guide.
E-commerce focussed
Got ranked #1 on Amazon for keywords.
Was very interested in figuring out Amazon SEO. It’s been 1 ½ -2 years since done it.
What are the evergreen ranking factors on Amazon?
Tommy was interested in SEO since The Four-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss)
Likes SEO on multiple platforms. SEO defined SEO is broader than any single platform.
Anything has to deal with the “document relevant query” involves SEO.
Commonest platforms include Google, Youtube or Amazon.
But also more specialist ones, like Apple App Store, Airbnb, etc.
What is a platform optimising for?
That’s what got Tommy interested in Amazon.
He co-owned a business until a couple of years ago before exiting to his co-founder [ie selling the business to his business partner]
The co-founder was American, based in China, interested in products, 3PL freight etc.
Good partnership because Tommy was into SEO on Amazon & digital marketing generally. How does Amazon organise and rank documents? Google is the most complex search engine with the most ranking signals to help you with SEO Positioning.
All the other one's distant second.
On all other platforms than Google, it seems one key metric is critical.
On Amazon, SALES trumps all! A lot of straightforward things they did that worked for ranking on Amazon:
Primary keyword in the title Weave primary keywords into bullets, desc etc Get a handful of reviews mentioning the primary keyword Doing anything to drive reviews
“Barnacle SEO” Latch onto bigger players which helps you in your SEO positioning.
Eg: Yahoo Answers (back in the day, don’t do it now!)
Used to rank top of Google - be the highest rated comment.
The modern equivalent might be Quora or Yelp.
Amazon is one of the most authoritative sites and best-optimised for conversion out there. Canonical URL Driving google traffic to your Amazon listings can be a powerful way to approach Amazon traffic.
The ability to change the canonical URL is very valuable in SEO positioning.
Have a primary URL for your page; you can change it up if it isn’t working. How to find the Canonical URL On a high level, if you open up the source code “View source”.
Type in Command [Control]+F (find) for “canonical” and you’ll see the canonical tag. How canonical URLs work with Search Engines. That helps search engines handle duplicate content in SEO positioning.
If there are 100 shoes at a store - multiple permutations of pages.
Eg: search by size 8,10,12; red, black, brown; men, women’s.
The canonical URL makes it way easier for Google to make sense of pages.
The canonical tag on Amazon is similar to your title (truncated) - remove stopgap words like and, it’s etc etc
That will end up in Google’s index.
For a detailed blog article by Tommy on Clickminded’s blog click here:
Canonical URL
SEO Risk on Google vs. Amazon
On Google you boost your domain - if you go too aggressive, you’re at risk of being hurt.
On Amazon, you can be quite aggressive and change the Canonical tag with minimal risk of being indexed.
If you change your primary title, that changes the canonical URL - kind of like starting over.
If you’re new to internet marketing, it’s really powerful!
Even if you did shady backlinking, Google is not going to de-index Amazon, because it’s an incredibly high-authority domain. So this protects your own product listing pages on Amazon.
How should we think about Amazon vs. Google?
Broader internet marketing - who are your audiences and what is their intent?
SEO is about capturing intent.
E-commerce translation has a lot of nitty-gritty. Today Jana talks about the different tools that can help you in this journey. Keywords in image names No confirmation about keywords in images - may or may not get indexed. It’s all about A-B testing.
Images in Enhanced Brand Content - in the name of the image, you can put in a keyword for ranking. The algorithm scans through the whole of listing and file names get scanned.
From followup emails, you don’t need to worry about keywords for E-commerce translation.
Review from “painting marking” - fix the colour of chair leg.
You may look at reviews, you may update the listing.
Responding to reviews, you SHOULD use keywords for E-commerce translation.
Helium 10 has a nice tool “review downloader” Packaging You don’t need to worry about keywords.
The clients usually have very strict instructions about packaging.
Messaging may be “jolly” or “strict/factual”.
It does depend on the category of E-commerce translation.
Some want some kind of word-play for E-commerce translation. Integrating keywords with native speakers Even people who grew up somewhere else and then moved - it may sound very weird otherwise.
You need somebody who has a language background as well.
To repeat long-tail keywords or not in listings?
German listing with a long-tail keyword - one word was same, next one was different.
It was repeated about 30 times. The client asked, “why?”.
That is different from repeating the same keywords. You want to be indexed for as many keywords as possible.
“Red mug” don’t repeat.
You can get indexed for 20-30 keywords per listing. Backend search terms Don’t repeat any of the keywords at all.
You can put together adjectives and related keywords eg: “running” with a travel mug.
Then the product can show up in “frequently bought together” Followup emails In Germany - a lot of people experiment with informal vs. Formal emails.
They split test what works best.
In French, Spanish, Italian market, more casual works fine on E-commerce translation.
If you’re selling some kind of playful product, you can put rhymes etc. in.
The first name of the owner of the brand is nice. You obviously shouldn’t ask for reviews. Ads Used to do Facebook ads - last one maybe mid-2018. There are certain rules
Short-form is very hard to express what the client wants.
Especially in German and French. Ecommerce SEO translations Title of the product with keywords
Easier to find good keywords outside of Amazon
It’s not so much a niche
Tools:
Semrush How clients use YLT? A lot of people just sell on an e-commerce site
Also, do a lot of proofreading and correction.
A lot of people want to check their site.
A lot of clients use college students at $0.03 a word or Google translate.
You can just split-test one of your pages What’s the process for translating an e-commerce site? Google SEO and Google ads.
Chat
Jana has chat - lots of people want to have real-time real person chat.
Almost every person who goes on chat sent an email and they closed a deal.
You could get someone for a $1 a minute!
Tawk.to - even if they don’t have all the answers, send us an email and we’ll get back to you.
Half a year ago, on contact form - link to calendly - a lot of people schedule a free call for 15 minutes.
They want to hear more about you.
That leads to closing the deal!
Human contact is something everyone is striving for in this era of chatbots. Specialisation Jana just decided to be the best at what they do. They translate - they don’t do PPC or product launch.
They are considering copywriting as a new service.
A lot of people who approached her in Prague liked the fact that they focus on translations.
Not “just another Amazon agency” - a lot of people like the specialisation.
Deal for listeners
Translating Amazon listings is really a challenge. It's tempting to just use google translate, but will it really bring you the best outcome? Listings Regular E-commerce and Amazon translation comparison
Can’t you just use google translate?
Can’t you use Fiverr translator for Translating Amazon listings?
Even just a high-quality translator?
A lot of YLT’s clients have already had a translation done by someone on Fiverr.
They can’t just be regular translations. The style needs to be what the client wants.
A lot of clients want to keep the story-telling.
Localisation and keyword strategy placement and search terms on backends are critical in Translating Amazon listings.
“Red travel mug” is a keyword - the algorithm isn’t going to recognise the keyword and rank you for it. You need fresh keyword research “Please translate search terms” - this is absolutely wrong!
You can lose a lot of time and page rank because of CTR being low.
Selling in new market, Amazon will give you a honeymoon period for a period. That is misleading.
If after a month, if you use the wrong search terms for Translating Amazon listings.
Long-tail keywords are critical. Regular translator and Google Translate Emails, packaging etc. - anything non-keyword orientated.
Google translate is getting a lot better. But it’s risky to use for keyword research.
If you put “faucet” in Google translate into Italian, you’ll get something completely different - it’s not a “faucet” ie tap
You need the help of a native speaker.
Sometimes it is just completely wrong. Sometimes it won’t show the right product on Amazon.
You must always type it into Amazon! Danish e-commerce example Spring in a couch - somebody just used google translate - the result meant “Spring” as in the season of the year!
That can often happen - often you don’t know if a translator is using Google translate unless you speak the language like a native.
You need to hire a proofreader: translation it is very subjective so you need somebody else to check the work for Translating Amazon listings. Keyword research How do you deal with keyword research in different markets?
Love to use Helium 10 2-3 ASINs to try free
Sonar gives some results - not as good as Helium10
Amz suggestion expander - Chrome extension
H10 may not be good if it’s unpopular among other sellers.
Say travel mug - keywords that come before and after this - decent long-tail keywords
You don’t get search volume.
Long-tail keywords vs. Short tail keywords - they mark it in red.
Clients don’t like repetition - a lot of people send files First steps
Find competitors
Volume per month Their keywords Go to “Magnet” in H10 - basic keywords you want to rank for
Plus competitor keywords (look at the title)
If it’s a popular product - look at 120-150 as a minimum result, 1000s is better
Check Competitor ASINs
Go to Cerebro ”Get competitors”- 6-7 ASINS Get keywords - get excel sheet (Advanced)
Ranking competitors - at least 2 Search volume min. 150 - you get long-tail keywords Don’t want single keywords
High search volume with nobody ranking - you should include in your title - this happens quite a lot High traffic keywords go into title if possible Minimum 3 keywords in your title
First 2 bullets & description are critical If you have product description (not Enhanced Brand Content, EBC) put high traffic keywords in the beginning.
That’s important because on amazon app on phone, headline, description, bullets. Only issues are Mexican and Japanese markets Have to manually look at the competition
Most tools don’t work there.
But Amz suggest expander works in Japan Amazon Launchpad Free services - “I don’t know if it’s any good”
It’s an automated translation - it’s no better than Google Translate.
It’s expensive to hire good native translators.
Today, Rick explains his video marketing principles. Also getting an audience for your products in a way that pays for itself.
Learning evergreen marketing principles Evergreen structure
Not only speeches - like the Carnegie book 50-60 years old still works
The reason why is that human nature doesn’t change.
Youtube is big now - now we buy via Amazon but it may change again.
Rick is a fan of learning from past generations. Copywriting from Direct response for the sears catalogue.
Reading Budgets and ROI/ affordable How to do an MVP video affordably
This can be one of the blocks. How to get started inexpensively.
Video marketing - it’s not the production quality; it’s the CONTENT.
Marketing today is easier than it used to be though. Even 10 years ago, you had to hire a crew and an expensive camera - $50-60K cost!
Lower barriers of entry are the quality of the video you can produce on your iPhone or Android phone - it’s 4K =same quality. Two classic errors in production Get the visual part right -the phone will do this.
Lighting Sound
For under $100, you can buy a lighting and sound kit.
Rick just ordered one on Amazon - lighting kit with an attachment with a circular lightbulb “Ubeesize” light with remote control and an attachment for your iPhone!
IF you go to the “video marketing institute” - Rick has the basic subscription.
Adam Paine - British but lives in Tokyo - does an amazing job of getting into the detail of creating a video for Pinterest, Instagram etc. He really cares about helping his subscribers. When to scale up/invest in videos A downloadable guide to most effective video content and how to produce them.
Companies that are successful and looking to scale - 5X or 10X
Rick Cesari tries to find the one things that people are responding to
And put ad dollars in and getting a return.
Doesn’t matter if it’s $50/week on FaceBook based on the breakeven model.
Find the channel you can make successful and gear it up.
It doesn’t matter what the channel is.
Rick goes for 2:1 - 2 dollars back for every dollar invested.
Once you have the key to one channel, it will usually continue to work.
Some campaigns spend up to $1 million a month on ads.
Until the results start to diminish, you should keep spending. What about Facebook “ad fatigue”? That’s a tricky issue - Rick has not run into it himself.
The other thing Rick’s agency does with companies, especially Amazon businesses, are trying to help them build a database of customers outside Amazon.
Rather than selling people to products via 2 steps from FaceBook, they’ll try to build a mailing list and try to build the business. Product marketing via emails
It’s a slower way to build but creates more value.
One example is Rick working with “Puriya” to build an email list and do email marketing. Emails still work Natural star based in Seattle - based on email marketing
YouTube seems to be creating more evergreen value than FaceBook
Plugable is a high-8 figure Amazon seller (top 150 Amazon) and Rick’s clients
Largest seller of docking stations on Amazon - competing with giants like Anker
Every new product has a YouTube video and that is deployed on YouTube channel (15K subs)
Use that on product listings as well.
They find that helps conversions.
One thing Rick is working is making in the videos more effective -
Build-in infographics Build in a Call To Action
Origin story They’ve been doing this for 8 years now - it’s really important for sellers that the founder has an origin story.
On your commerce site and your YouTube channel, you should have an origin story.
People are curious about the “Why” behind companies. The best way to communicate that is with a video interview.
Look at what they are doing on YouTube, own site, Amazon - consistency is crucial. Branding Consistency in the message and in the visual messaging helps build a ...
Creating video for Amazon sellers requires a lot of trial and error. Rick talks about how to get viewers hooked on your videos.
New Book: “Video persuasion” Video is becoming a real necessity if you’re using it to help sell a product /generate leads. It’s not about the technical aspects.
There are lots of software tools. But content is more critical and more neglected. Content is king
What to put in the video
To engage the viewer quickly How to keep them interested. How to structure Call To Action
But what content should you use?
style="font-weight: 400;">How do you hook them in?
What content is most appealing?
How do you use video to get people to take a specific action? What is Direct Branding? Sell the product first, get it into the marketplace and improve the brand with a response from the marketplace.
You get two results:
Improve the brand Cashflow!
Having run a marketing agency for years. Rick is doing more writing, speaking, consulting. Products =branding We forget the power of word of mouth - reviews and social media amplify this.
Having products out in consumers’ homes is great brand awareness and engagement! Writing Rick has set a goal to write five books In the next 5 years!
Working with Jason Boyce doing $20M a year - launching products
Goal setting and conversation point here.
“The difference between an idea and action…”
Even in business, a lot of people fall down. They don’t take the steps.
Setting goals and acting on them is really important. What to put in the video Rick did a lot of research using stats from Cisco and Hubspot for the book.
There are 3 most effective types of videos based on the videos: Top 3 most effective types of video?
Tutorial (how-to) Demonstration Testimonials
These are the most important to put on your website or on Amazon.
Demo + Test is really powerful to sell products.
They’ve seen conversion rate increases with clients What are the steps to create great demo videos? It sounds simple to make a demo video - but there’s more to it.
Rick worked on direct response TV - the production money gave a discipline that showed what got people to respond.
Create really great demo videos. What are the principles? This holds true for both video and even still images…
Many Amazon listings could be much better at converting. The human element in still images A lot of people take a product and we see very cold images of the product.
If you can incorporate a human element - using the product - even a body part like a hand etc. - it goes a long way to helping these things convert. Graphics and titles If you can create a product image with infographics in it, where title calls out benefits of the product, that helps with conversion.
Rick works with Amazon agency - including infographics with benefits in images Video Adding titles to videos - if it’s on a social media channel where people have it muted, it becomes more important.
Some video production companies stumble - they feel it will ruin the look of the video.
That is wrong - people watch to get information, so it’s pointless not communicating. Demonstration video nuts and bolts
Let people know upfront what video is about GoPro commercials - everyone started with a Go-Pro logo so people knew it was about that product! The goal is not to get everybody watching to watch video It’s to get people who are invested in the product Put user-generated footage eg snowboarding End with an offer
No Call To Action! Many sellers forget to add a Call To Action. It makes no sense at all to get consumers excited to buy and don’t give them a path to action.
Even if it’s simple like 10% off, Buy One, Get One Free, etc.
Brand and response are not mutually exclusive! Always be sure to go for a response! Why lead with the brand? Clients don’t have $100 millions of dollars for advertising!
Classic mistakes with Amazon headline ads can be prevented. Brian discusses the strategies to make your headline ads stand out and be more effective.
The second most prominent ads type - formerly known as Amazon Headline ads
are the “Sponsored Brand Ads”. Types :
Banner ad Skyscraper ad - shows up the bottom left Tile ads - 2-3 squares that show up at bottom of ads.
Banner ad -They allow you to put in a twitter type title and set up the main image.
Skyscraper ad - shows up at the bottom left
Tile ads - 2-3 squares that show up at bottom of ads.
They allow you to put in a twitter type title and set up the main image.
Common error
The common mistake Brian sees - early 2018, Amazon introduced version 2 from banner to include the skyscraper ads and tile ads.
They didn’t “grandfather” in the ads.
So if you’re not creating new ads, you’re using the traditional banner ad. How to use SBA Take keywords from sponsored product ads that convert well.
They DON’T use SBA for research.
Generally, the cost per click should be lower.
Competition is stiffer because of fewer positions.
Set up recommended
Add in keywords.
A little more than the suggested bid.
Tune bid weekly based on impressions etc.
Pick 3 products Pick the main image Create a title
Two main options: Strategy one
Generic title - trying to grab the attention of a shopper looking for a keyword. Amazon recommends you use the brand logo or main product image as the main image. Brian doesn’t recommend that. It’s better to use a lifestyle image (in action with a person). Or something with high contrast that pops out visually.
It can one of the secondary images of your best selling product.
Lead with top-selling product 1,2,3
If introducing a brand new product, try position two. That will help Click-Through Rate (engagement)
It’s also going to help with the conversion rate.
Most people don’t set up their brand page - it needs a designer.
It’s extra work and extra cost - so they just send it to a search result list
Strategy two
Trying to target specific keywords.
You basically have two produce a large number of ads for this.
This is when Brian recommends a campaign that has one target keyword and close variations of it.
Set the main image to a good choice.
So you create dozens of ads. Why do this? Brian often hears “I tried one headline ad once and it didn’t work”
The key is “once” (or “one”)
You need to try different ads and split test them.
Don’t create one or two - get into the habit of creating new ones.
You’re building a portfolio of ads at Amazon PPC Management.
The Second strategy is primarily about targeting a specific audience.
Go for mid and long-tail keywords eg “black mattress cover”
make sure images are relevant.
Brand analytics - sponsored ads - It’s helpful with trying to rank
Basically you can analyse if you can hit top 3 positions on the keyword if it happens in brand analytics.
What about Headline Ads setup - banner ads at the top; some on the side; some on bottom
Target keywords that you know convert for Amazon PPC Management.
Try multiples with
Titles Main image 3 photos - sequence of photos
Classic mistakes with headline ads Not split testing and creating new ads!
Don’t put it on if you have products with poor reviews - 4-5 star
Don’t use Sponsored brand ads to test keywords for Amazon PPC Management.
They may purchase the cheaper product ultimately - but don’t lead with it.
If you have 10 products, you need to mix and mingle the products in your ads.
If you go OOS with 10 products, the whole ad stops showing.
Change
the order Title Image Products included or not
Split test:
Title Images
Ad rejection by Amazon PPC Management You’ll know you’re pushing the boundaries if Amazon is rejecting your ads.
Amazon PPC Management can get very messy. Learn the basic skills to increase product performance and overall leveraging your business. INTRO Brian Johnson of Canopy Management
Affectionately known as the “Brain in the Jar”, not only has Brian achieved success as an online seller, but he has become the Leading Strategist in Amazon Pay-Per-Click Advertising.
Over the course of his career, Brian has founded: the Amazon PPC Troubleshooting community, Amazon PPC Consulting Association, PPC Scope ad management software, Sponsored Products Academy training course, and Canopy Management advertising agency for million-dollar brands. Methodology for basic campaign structure What is the overall framework?
This has evolved over the years.
Bear in mind: New manual campaigns take a few weeks to “warm-up” for Amazon to trust them. Always have an Auto -discovery campaign for Amazon PPC Management. Brian used to do 1 auto and 1 manual campaign Now does 3 manual campaigns
What manual campaigns to have? Most people assume campaigns are set up by match type. That’s not what Brian teaches or does.
1st campaign - ASIN targeting (run ads on someone else’ listing)
2nd campaign: research campaign
Test to see which different match types perform best at Amazon PPC Management.
Those that do convert get into the protected campaign.
3rd campaign “protected campaign”
AKA: “profitable”/“converting”/“Winner” campaigns
You focus ads to where you get the highest ROI on spend
Then you’re into more advanced campaigns. What is ASIN targetting? Like AMS - product display.
You can choose headline targeting or ASIN targeting.
You can build those to run on weaker competitors’ listings.
If you have a new product and no social proof, you have a little conversion.
So get a foothold first before you attack others in Amazon PPC Management.
Then have your ads run on other listings that don’t have such good products.
It’s basically about stealing market share.
It works best if you run these ads on a competitor listing with low social proof, value, price.
Be THE alternative.
If Conversion Rate is not close to the top 3, you’ll struggle to do ASIN targeting. How do you pick weak competitors? Way 1: if your product is better on price or review count.
Way 2: brand analytics analysis - how well do top products convert? Automatic campaign use It’s NOT for keyword research.
it’s easier to set up
Plus you get instant results Manual research campaigns You do your OWN list of keywords.
So you can tell Amazon here’s where I want my ad to be shown.
You’re looking to get your ad in front of your audience.
You don’t necessarily if you’re getting in front of the RIGHT audience.
You might dump 1000s of keywords into your keyword campaign. How many keywords to have in a manual campaign? And how to organize? From his data - the number of keywords amazon shows for a given product, probably 150-200 keywords. Amazon won’t care about the camp structure.
Some might be 500; some 10!
150 keywords typically get impressions.
75-100 keywords typically get clicks.
30-50 keywords typically get conversions.
Campaign structure doesn’t affect this!
Amazon wants relevance! They want us to go for a niche audience
They want to focus on the finite size of the audience. You’ll focus on the terms in the content and the ad. Automatic campaign structure One ad group per variation or product. Manual research Campaign structure one ad group per product and per match type
Usually all 3 match types
Broad match ad group for each ASIN
Phrase match ad group for each ASIN
NO exact match ad group
Phrase match will get you the most traffic and data.
You do also have a protected campaign to do the exact match.
Set bid same or phrase match a few cents higher. “Protected” campaign Include Phrase and exact
Phrase match ad group for each ASIN
An Amazon Agency is really tough to run. Find out how Nadine keeps her company running in shape and what keeps her team and customers happy. What made you start running an agency? In 2016 Nadine started working as a Customer Service person herself. She saw how the structure was - supervisor for 5 people etc.
Decided to go into business for themselves.
Ran into an Amazon seller - she worked with him for 9 months.
Asked him - could I do this on a bigger scale?
This is how she got other assistants - friend (Olga) from another agency became employee #1.
She also brought on her best friend so that was 3 people.
Been as high as 15, now 13 people in her Amazon Agency. System and training Her first employee set up a system.
They set up a system including an internal wiki.
Decided: only going to work in Amazon Seller Central.
She’s a teacher so taught new employees.
Nadine could focus on getting new clients. Telling people what to do! Nadine’s parents said she was good at telling people how to do things! Her mother hated it because she sees that Nadine is paying someone to do something she could do.
But Nadine wanted to focus on the business, not in it, but also client-facing. How do you find the staff? Nadine always picks staff herself then passes them on to her manager. Hiring process Google form
How would you reply to this German email? How would you reply to this English email? Nadine copied and pasted from a genuine email.
Also asked them about the level of their language skills.
If someone tells you they are very good at English but they aren’t, there is a mismatch between them. How Enida attracts applicants At this stage, they get a lot of applications because they are known.
Friends of staff also are a good source of potential employees. But everyone has to go through the process.
Asks if they have worked as an Amazon seller.
If so - they don’t want to people in who could potentially be a threat to clients. How did you start with staff hiring? Had 25 applications - picked two - then it was 4 people. Then Nadine employed a VA for herself -(Micha) she deals with communications with clients after initial onboarding. She is still here now. Eg contracts and money. How do you manage staff? Olga manages this - if employees ask questions that they “Shouldn’t be asking”.
She (Olga) works very closely with staff and has a good feeling for who is good or not good. Is it a virtual (dispersed) team? A lot of the team are all over the world. What are your communication rhythms and tools? Active Collab and Skype mainly
Active Collab can see which tasks are still open. Also easy for accounting.
Skype is easy because it’s free.
Slack is nice but it costs $5 per person per month. They meet in Berlin once a year - it’s informal. Had a canoe trip and went to an Indian restaurant. Informal chats The longer they work together, the less they all talk.
But it is good to have a call and stay focused. Put your staff first If there is an issue with a client, Nadine reaches out and will fix this.
She puts her staff first! She wants good energy in the company.
She has spent so much time training them and doesn’t want a client to be the reason they quit! The importance of keeping staff There is nothing more expensive than losing staff!
If one employee goes, they have to shift clients to other people.
Then there is a lot of hiring; there is onboarding; they might make mistakes and have to be let go. Not paid by the hour but paid by the action Eg sending an email, sending a refund.
They only do Customer Service for e-commerce.
The relationship between the payment and the work done needs to be right.
One of Nadine’s team leaders spotted a staff member was working for too low a wage - they confronted the client and said the pricing model had to change. How did you get clients on board? In the beginning,
Amazon Germany has different demands and customer behaviours. Today's episode equips us to manage our approach to our German customers. What does Enida do? Customer service in Germany and English customer service.
Keep the customers happy so you will be too. At what stage do sellers come to you? Some at the very beginning because they’re not doing well at it.
Others are big. They realise that if they employed a VA, that person might get sick and been on holiday.
They are there 24/7 even Xmas.
Top sellers don’t want to work on Xmas in Amazon Germany. Numbers seasonally Usually, they go up from Oct to Jan; Summer is usually lower.
Sellers set things up in summer for Q4.
They have a system in place so even if the seller takes a whole day off. The guarantee is to always cover the service. Do you need someone who speaks the language? Germany is a big market - Germans don’t like mistakes.
If you had a German native speaker who translates the templates, but they have different questions than English customers!
There is a great danger of not answering the question in Amazon Germany.
This can increase the danger of negative reviews. Negative reviews hit harder in Germany than US or UK Before you could send an invoice email and ask if the product turned up okay.
If the customer responded, there was a point of contact.
That has just gone - Amazon is changing the system so the customer can download the invoice directly.
That means that customer emails are even more important than they were!
For example, you sent a new product, you can follow up on the following week.
German customer service normally doesn’t do follow up.
If you make a special effort, you can steer people in the right direction. Customer service Write Customer Service templates (40 pages) for individual sellers
- need to understand German if you do that.
You can’t save templates at the moment! Table of contents You can also use Evernote - use tags
Someone in the USA sends a short email saying “did it arrive okay?”
Now in Amazon Germany, you have to get creative.
If a customer is fed up with a company and they pull it around, that makes a huge difference emotionally to the customer. Robot chats vs. Person The world is changing - robots probably can’t help! It’s frustrating!
Making the customer happy - this is a luxury. How do you turn around negative customers? “Kill them with kindness” Turn frustration around into something they can’t possibly be mad at!
I’m very very sorry - send out a new product - maybe put a cheap product in with it to make an impression. And maybe a note.
It’s critical to move them out of frustration. “I’m not going to leave you hanging” Most customer service in Germany is pretty terrible. So when consumers email, they have a poor expectation.
Email them after things are sorted - “That’s great. If you could share your experience with other customers, that would really help.” If you’re selling a seasonal product, branch into a tiny bit of small talk. A client sold inflatable swimming mats. Make yourself more human.
The more human you are, the more people will like you.
You can’t do this all the time - you have to train to someone in the fine balance. Marketplaces - all in English USA, France, Italy, Spain, Germany UK in English or German
They do work in English - but every week there is Quality Assurance - Nadine is involved but does not speak Italian, Spanish or French.
One Canadian! Not Mexico. Not China, India, Japan. Copywriting How to address customers in general
- Friendly not too “professional” a tone
It’s small scale. German-specific copywriting Formal versus informal “you”.
There are two types of ways of addressing the customer “Sie” (formal) and “Du” (informal).
For example, with medical products, you would never address someone casually.
You’d have to have a more professional tone in your email.
When it comes to hiring and processes, we need to know where to find capable staff, define their roles and make sure they have a process to follow.
At what point should you be looking to hire people? Maybe at the $500k/year OR 30 SKUS mark.
Project Manager
When do you need one?
A number of SKUs/complexity determines this.
$500K/30 SKUs - need a project manager - too much for one person
So maybe hire a part-time project manager.
What does a project manager need to do?
Don’t have to be an Amazon specialist.
Their job is like lean manufacturing: deal with bottlenecks and mistakes.
They make sure jobs are done and done correctly.
It’s better to order a “lean” expert or a “sigma-6 green belt”.
Out of 700 processes maybe 72-100 are Amazon specific.
Rest is things like: How do you hire someone? What is the email sequence?
What is “sigma-6 ”?
It’s a ready-made control quality and system development process. What is the difference between Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC)? A quality Assurance manager develops and maintains the processes. They do periodic audits of the system.
The Quality Control Inspector inspects and then reports on the staff’s use of the processes.
Your “C” level or CEO or COO will be QC inspector when it’s a really small company.
For slightly larger companies, the project manager typically plays the role of Quality Control Inspector.
But once you get over 15-20 people, you’ll need to have a specific Control Control Inspector -they would be the Amazon experts in TOS/legal compliance when hiring and processes are in place. How do you hire a part-time Project Manager? There are numerous places - don’t look for an Amazon specialist; look for a project management specialist.
The PM (Project Manager) is there trying to locate the bottlenecks and mistakes for the QC inspector to give you feedback and then they implement the fixes when hiring and processes are involved.
In the online world, you need to make sure they are proficient in the practice of choice. E.g. familiar with sigma 6 -and proficient in the tools of choice.
onlinejobs.ph is good but they are tabbed out - not enough people to fill roles.
If they were any good, they’d already had a job.
Hiring a PM in-house is ideal.
GoHire () software does a bunch of things - it’s for North America.
Look in the real world!
Reed uses Gohire programme - it goes out to ZipRecruiter etc.
There are systems out there to spread it out for you.
The key is the actual HR process. Asking the right questions.
You’re the visionary, not the HR person. Defining Roles in hiring and Processes Define the role - maybe it’s something you as the founder want to have a hand in.
Project managers need to be more problem-solving. Broad recruiting Process: Job Role
Job ad
Send it out
Interviews
Job offers/contract
Company email address Onboarding Process after hiring Initially, they hired someone but didn’t have an onboarding process.
It made issues down the line. You need to help them to succeed at the beginning. ecomprocess itself Started early 2018.
The company’s employees are “certified” by Amazon and the employees have to take tests that are certified by Amazon. 1 test is publicly available but access to another four tests is limited to Reed’s company. What is the agency/consulting all about? Special selling point - relationship with Amazon - safer suspension protection (know the Amazon TOS).
If you’re not on the list, Amazon will start revoking the permissions.
Vendor Central market - if you’re not making around $10m a year, you’re getting kicked out. How to hire more lower-level staff A generalist is a difficult beast to find. If you find them, they’ll move up to a project manager role.
If you can internally bring people up to higher roles, that’s always best.
You need to look for people who
Understanding how to grow a process system can create great opportunities to scale your business in the wider scheme of things.
Reed’s Background Two decades in the oil patch - processes.
Reed’s first business pursuit was a quality inspection consultant to oil companies on both quality assurance and quality control (which are both different). They are distinct and misunderstood.
Was also tasked with the investigation of deadly industry failures on how grow a process system.
They all went back to one thing which is they failed to follow processes.
Or people followed the procedures correctly but there was a critical error in the processes. A critical task often lacked a checklist.
In the wider scheme of things, rules had to be followed. The only way that could happen was extreme systemisation.
Checklist vs. Procedures vs. Processes - what is the difference? Reed uses them interchangeably. It’s all about building a system.
It all leads to doing things efficiently. Reed’s Amazon business In 2014 Reed was looking for a way to get out of the oil patch.
Took lots of courses and found himself in the oil patch with nothing to do so built his business.
Launched first Private Label brand - took off immediately - but ran into issues.
Grew brand in 10 months to $2M in sales but had no processes! So it was a mess.
Ended up hiring a team of smart people to create SOPs. Now the company has well over 700 processes.
Cost about $100,000 to create and refine those processes.
The company came out with a world-class e-commerce business.
Now they can delegate mundane and competitive tasks with minimum expense and time. Why processes are critical Downsides can be huge:
Frustrated staff Missed deadlines Missed opportunities Non-compliance with TOS Amazon Account Suspension! Ultimately it’s a cost Also, there is a cost to your personal time
Upsides
It allowed Reed to branch out from pure e-commerce selling Has allowed him to help 100s of Amazon sellers to launch businesses It must have a solid foundation Reed could develop software programmes based on spreadsheets - four software companies Ceiling vs. Potential
There’s a $1m ceiling classically without a set of clear processes.
The second you have the system in place, it opens things up.
You can’t grow past $1m without processes.
If you want to outsource, you have to have processes in place. So you can hire people.
Most conversations with Amazon sellers show that the same issue crops up each time:
“What is truly holding your business back?”
The answer is: most of their time is taken up exclusively by mundane tasks.
The rest of the business world is not waiting for you to grow. “Ecomprocess” Earlier in 2018, they started this.
took all processes - had over 700 processes and they are selling them.
99% of amazon daily procedures never change!
Reed has well over 700 Processes, broken into small chunks.
NOT “how do I make 30% revenue growth by PPC?” How do I start creating a process? (ex. No VAs, 30 SKUs) You can distinguish in two directions:
Do I have no processes grow a process system?
Or do you have a system you’re building out? If you have no process The First process is your naming convention!
That’s the basis of how people understand and search and find what they need to know.
You have to assume that people don’t know about Amazon or about processes grow a process system.
It must be systematisable across the whole business.
2nd process: how to record updates to the process.
If you have, say 30 people in the business, 10 are using it, 2 don’t know it’s not been updated.
3rd process: what is the layout format of each process?
When should you start?
As soon as possible.
If you’re not an expert, you should hire in an expert to do it - or maybe get free advice from an experienced seller.
How to Sell handmade on amazon for Profit What does Rural Handmade offer Amazon Sellers right now?
For Amazon sellers who want to sell handmade on Amazon, there are two solutions: data-driven or designer-driven. Data-driven Rural Handmade has built algorithms that follow consumer behaviour eg Alibaba, Etsy, Amazon etc. They share this with entrepreneurs who want to sell handmade on Amazon or other marketplaces and tell them key areas to focus on. The system is still in Beta but Rural Handmade can advise in person. How does that compare to eg Jungle Scout and similar Amazon research tools? Those tools are based on BSR etc. solely from Amazon data. Rural Handmade has replicated this kind of thing from different sites. It’s not just for those who want to sell handmade on Amazon - it’s about different portals. Rural Handmade is trying to rely on the global e-commerce markets as a whole, not just Amazon or any particular marketplace. However, if you want to sell handmade on Amazon, they are an excellent start, as they cut out the non-handmade Amazon data. 3Design for handmade items Sellers then work on a basic design. Then Rural Handmade can make a professional design (if the Amazon seller doesn't have that capability in-house). They then hand on work to SE Asia. If an Amazon seller has only a broad design idea for a handmade item, can you give recommendations? Yes, they can start from a very broad idea and they can do research. If you want to procure 10-15 SKUs, you upload ideas and designs to the site. There are catalogues in different segments. They can help you You could start building a brand with £100 Protection against copying/defensible The problem in Amazon is a big fish consumes a smaller fish. Whereas if it’s handmade, it’s hard to copy. It would be very hard to find the locations. So selling handmade on Amazon is a fantastic way to defend your product against being copied. Suppliers or competitors who want to copy product have to go through the same supply chain. There is basically no plastic in rural handmade goods so that rules out a lot of Chinese factories from easily copying the goods. And sustainable local materials - eg recycled metal, etc. are not easy to find. For example, for hemp, you’ll need to go to Nepal, and the export of it is restricted. Hedging risks when launching new Amazon products If you buy one SKU for $5000 vs. 10 SKUs for $5000, you are hedging the risk of a product not performing as expected. If you research and launch 10, you may see success with 2-3 of them. If you sell handmade on Amazon, you have the opportunity to spread your capital among multiple SKUs. With the same money, you’ll learn a lot more - and you can build on the basics when they succeed. Production Capacity/scalability with handmade goods There are £120-200M people in SE Asia involved in handmade The potential to scale is potentially there - but Konark isn’t looking at mass production of handmade. It’s about OPTIMAL production - price is so that consumers don’t have to take out a loan. Then keep innovating - small, medium batches. So it’s not a model built around mass production with "me-too" products. A lot of makers are not as educated as many sellers and their vision is limited. The first few iterations for them are painful because they’re used to making things quickly. But 120-150 million people in rural SE Asia are now being organised by Rural Handmade. You can get a capacity of 300-500, even up to 5000 units per batch, depending on raw materials. Can you start with low MOQs with handmade products? Anything between 300-5000 units of handmade goods is probably doable. Could start off with a smaller batch - say 100 units. But it does have to make a business case - there are minimal shipping costs. What’s a typical price per unit for handmade goods? A leather handmade bag would say be £3-6 ($4-8) The reason it’s cheaper is the “disintermediation of the supply chain”
Handmade products from developing countries are a massive trend. They give Amazon sellers several huge business advantages while doing good. Find out what!
Handmade Products - a Golden Opportunity for Amazon Sellers What is Rural Handmade about?
It’s about connecting rural hand-makers (makers of handmade products from South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America) with global markets. Also to help Amazon sellers and ecommerce entrepreneurs to convert their ideas into an actual product. Sustainability is a growing market There is a growing awareness of the need for sustainable products among consumers. The issue is that sustainability as it stands is quite expensive. It’s almost a luxury. On the other hand, if you look at the supply potential across the developing world - including handmade products from India- they’ve been working sustainably for 4000 years, It’s a huge industry. So we can make sustainability affordable for consumers if done correctly. The hand-makers lack two things:
Design excellence - not making the right types of products. Africa and South America makers of handmade products, for example, make a lot of products without really understanding the needs and wants of the consumers. The need to get in sync with global consumer market. They lack the reach to consumer markets. Makers of handmade products from India especially, for example, struggle to reach international markets due to the size and distribution of the maker population.
What’s the business case/ upside for resellers/retailers of importing handmade products? Retailers have been using very complex/unwieldy tools and ways to do sourcing, eg Alibaba. If you already see the product on Alibaba, you’re trying to make slight variations to existing products. This isn’t going to benefit you as much as having Rural Handmade focusses on a suite of tools to help connect sellers better to makers. Konark’s company also marries data and design. They look at the exact needs of the entrepreneur, then develop a design and get a low cost prototype made. Essentially a B2B company - want More businesses to work with them. How does importing handmade products work in practice? Example: leather product to put passports laptop in for avid traveller. Come to them, NDA agreement, it’s your private property. You keep IP. Design team creates a very simple design - dimensions, angles, material. Then makers make the prototype - this a benchmark product. That gets shipped to entrepreneur, they then make modifications. Then finalise. Then make batches in say 100s, 500s, 1000 It’s a fast and frugal process. What sort of upsides would be retailers get from working with a rural handmade maker? If you have a few things customers are looking for now, they have fastest turnaround time. They have an internal design team - convert ideas into 3D designs. These go to the artisanal communities - work into real product. 15-45 days - this is fast for handmade! This is a big USP. Mass produced products vs. Handmade The scope for making mistakes and correcting them is expensive. A new die could cost you $5-15K Handmade can give you great freedom to innovate without big downsides. How do you reduce variability with handmade goods/get consistency? They use industry standard SOPs including tolerances etc. The key is to communicate it to the makers. There will be slight variations but that makes it unique and that is a USP, not a problem. These are often products that will be given to consumers as a gift. It’s not going to be in an industrial context -so the tolerances of for example dimensions are not usually critical. Quality Control processes There is a “lead artisan” in each team who is there to keep an eye on QC. At the end of a production cycle, they put in a third-party quality control party. So it’s people who help manage the quality. How do you choose which artisans to work with?
Launching in Amazon Japan Expanding internationally -what’s the process?
Are you looking into expanding and launching in Amazon Japan? Know the differences, the similarities, and the pitfalls when exploring the Japanese market.
The process is just the same
Do research before you start, same as do it for Japan. Keep eyes open Try to offset risk before starting.
Market Research Definitely start with market research before you start sending inventory. Most of the usual research tools don’t work well there You have to do the research manually really when you are launching in Amazon Japan. JS etc. doesn’t work there. Amazon research - (answering Q is there a market for your product?) Sometimes there’s an inconclusive answer from research
If not many people buying a product, what does that tell you?
Research can’t give you the answer in the end - you have to be prepared to take a risk. DIY research Process? Look at your product Work out best search term
Translate into Japanese Look at 2-3 variations
Look in category ranking for that listing.
Brings up category best-sellers list - what kind of products doing well.
See identical/similar products for sale/how to do well.
Google translate is the key! Potential pitfalls would be
Can display the content of listing in English But that’s reliant on the seller putting fields in English
It’s not actually a translation
So it might not look like there’s any content You’re better off pasting the Japanese product details into Google Translate
What is the basic process for keyword research manually? Don’t be intimidated by how it looks!
Google translate for research is actually quite good.
Don’t do big long sentences - target individual words when launching in Amazon Japan.
Look for product main keyword search term - type that into Amazon.jp - get a feel for what’s going on. How would you make a decision to go into this area or not? Check reviews, images
Check the review stars.
Check the images.
Content - size of description, bullet points.
A lot of listings in Japan have enhanced content - didn’t use to have to be registered to get that. What are the similarities between Amazon Japan and Amazon UK or USA? Fulfilment side works exactly the same.
PPC pretty much same.
All similar - interface is similar - can use English What are the differences between Amazon Japan and Amazon UK? Japan Amazon is just oversize of UK Amazon but the population is double
Also, Japan Amazon has just 20% of the e-commerce market. That has increased from just 12% a few years ago. So Amazon’s market share of e-commerce in Japan is growing fast.
It’s easier to get to the top of the markets when the market is smaller - so now is a great time to get selling in Amazon Japan. John’s Background and Foundation of Rising Sun Commerce In 2005 John lived in London and worked as a programmer. He met a Japanese girl who wanted to move back to Japan.
He went to Japan for 5 years and married the girl!
Moved back to the UK in 2010. Met business partner Neil, who runs a PL brand, who wanted to grow his business. He was interested in Japan.
They teamed up and sent a batch of his products to Japan. They went well.
They thought other businesses would have a similar need so they created an agency about 2 years ago. Cultural differences? (Products? Marketing?) Japan is in some ways technologically advanced but in other ways not.
Had to fax timesheet in 2010.
But very fast trains.
In 2005 had tv and internet on phone. Ecommerce differences Most people overthink it!
The one difference is that Q4 is not as big as in the USA, Europe.
Christmas related products are not really a thing.
Also, Japanese consumers like high-quality products. It’s quite a high population density, especially big cities, so they tend to buy quality products rather quantity. Income levels of consumers
What does it take to scale European Amazon sellers? How does language play a part in expanding businesses in Europe? Find out in today's podcast.
Augustas will have different events in 4 countries Augustas wants to bring sellers together which is much harder to do in Europe.
Every country has its own culture and gets isolated, especially European Amazon sellers.
Rumanian sellers communicate with Rumanians; Lithuanians with others etc.
Most Europeans are excited to meet other nationalities.
You find different perspectives on how people see the same thing. Different perspectives on the same thing from different nationalities For example, in China - big learning -visiting China for 3 weeks 20 years ago. In Europe we say “round table” - if a Chinese person looks at it - it’s an “Ellipse”. From the side, it is an eclipse. What are your experiences between British sellers and other countries? Multiple languages Brits often have a disadvantage as they are mono-lingual.
Even Germans tend to speak German and English.
It opens up information that is shared among those people for European Amazon sellers.
Even if you don’t speak German and sell in Germany - you’re going to need to hire a translator.
Recently Augustas was organising an event in Israel - and he didn’t realise how hard it would be to organise!
He was relying on the business partner for marketing. He couldn’t read any of the Hebrew.
There weren’t systems in place to translate quickly and easily for European Amazon sellers. Central & Eastern European experience as Amazon sellers Especially Central and Eastern Europe, he holds lots of events in Russia - Georgia in a few weeks.
Ukraine is more known in the Russian community. They tend to go for less expensive services, they are more geared to keep cheap in Western Europe. Photographer in Lithuania Lithuanian Amazon sellers run away when he tells them the price.
They think it should be €200-300, not €700 Trends - seller behaviour Eg selling in The USA?
European marketplaces? Augustas’s Story as an entrepreneur - background He was a programmer who went into the Amazon industry
Not native English speaker - got known with virtual summits
Now does live events.
Events (English language)
Augustas jumped into the arena about 3 years ago and has done 6 virtual summits.
In 2019, he started doing live events.
He’s done several events so far:
He has done one event in Prague - for European ones “European Seller Conference.”
One in Israel - Sellerfest -for local sellers.
He has also done one event in Lithuania - Sellerfest
Uses the same event name for multiple countries. Topics Lithuania is serving different market segments: Some intermediate sellers;
However, the PPC Congress in Oct 3,4 in Amsterdam will be only talking about Amazon advertising.
This will be the first of its kind. There are conferences around Google ads etc. but not yet Amazon advertising. Hopefully he will attract some agencies who help a lot of Amazon sellers.
Augustas is looking to serve 3 types of companies: Amazon sellers, agencies, software.
He’s bringing interesting speakers who will talk about PPC strategies; but he’ll also have a slot for sharing experience in running an agency Liran Hirschkorn, Danny McMillan.
Speakers Brian Johnson, Liz Martin Adamson (known in the advertising industry)
Then less-known names but Augustas always asked friends about their opinion.
He’s also serving different regions - 10 speakers in Israel.
In Lithuania, he’s bringing in 14 speakers from 9 different countries. Organising events What are the pros and cons of doing this?
Augustas is trying to help people first of all. It’s not driven by Monday.
March 2019 Prague - mentally he prepared 2 years in advance.
There were 8-9 months of planning for this.
Augustas’s first thought - creating an event or a conference.
But every event has 200 microtasks!
Amazon FBM Prime is a growing trend. Learn about the pitfalls and how to deal with the issues that come up when we do FBM.
Why do FBM? The growing number of customers are looking for alternatives to FBA - at reduced costs.
Amazon places a lot of restrictions, especially for Oversized packages.
Amazon Seattle sales team recommending them for oversized stuff that Amazon can’t or won’t handle.
This is a fast-growing area for Regional Express is Amazon FBM for e-commerce. What are the main pitfalls in doing own fulfilment (FBM) as opposed to FBA? Chinese manufacturers advertise on Amazon and then fulfil from China - takes 1-3 weeks to get delivered.
May not got Prime badge.
Neil is working with Amazon to become a Prime fulfilled warehouse themselves.
There is an application process and a trial period. If you hit the KPIs you can become known as a seller fulfilled Prime expert.
Other companies may have cut-offs for next-day delivery. Eg: received after 2 pm in the afternoon, will get processed the next day. So won’t ever be Prime eligible. And low customer service levels.
So you’ll need to have fulfilment partners who can get an order out next day including orders up to midnight for Amazon FBM for e-commerce. Common warehousing mistakes Timing is the main factor. Stock control Getting out of stock without seeing why.
Stock control can be an issue - manual stock control eg thinking they have 100 units in stock but when you check it
If you have a proper WMS (Warehouse Management System) in place, that should eradicate those issues.
That is group software - online and automated management system. They can see SKUs and products listed there. It’s completely electronic so when they receive a shipment, goods are put into a rack or pick area.
Any orders that come through are put through scanners for Amazon FBM prime.
You don’t necessarily have to put a barcode on the product for Regional Express - can do it by numbers etc.
They can create SKUs.
Picking things wrongly How do you deal with issues like wrong product being sent out? It could be that labelling is wrong or wrong product in the wrong bay.
They will run a report.
The warehouse will go and check the bay and the product label.
They turn around those problems within 24 hours. Are there are specific Issues in Germany? No, it’s very similar to the UK. Eco-fulfilment service Neil has a large client base and they are getting more aware of the effect of products on the environment. The packaging is the main area for Amazon FBM for e-commerce.
Regional Express is trying to get more environmental packaging. No plastic service. Cardboard, paper, compostable materials.
Eco-Friendly pallet wrap.
If you’re using single-use plastics, you need to get the manufacturer to change those. But they can pack in a way that is more eco-friendly. It’s really taken off. One final piece of advice on logistics? Just spend a little time doing your research when expanding to a new marketplace. It doesn’t need to be a worry if you work with experts in the field.
The cheapest option isn’t always the best option!
Neil offers free insurance coverage - if anything does go wrong eg damage/loss of cargo.
How do people explore working with Regional Express? Please feel free to get in touch with Neil:
neil@regionalexpress.co.uk
Or call via the site +44 1794 516515
If you want to learn more from Neil, click here to listen to Episode 2: E-commerce shipping.
Special deal for 10K Collective Listeners When you email/contact/call Regional Express, if you use the Promo code of "10K" you’ll get these bonuses:
Bonus 1: VAT registration free of charge;
Bonus 2: discounted rates on VAT filing;
Bonus 3: any freight bookings 10% discount till the end of 2019 (from Sept 1 -Dec 31 2019)
Other Freight/Importing help from Neil Curran: e-commerce shipping
Importing from China to UK
Does knowledge of e-commerce shipping really make a difference? Find out more on today's episode with Neil Curran of Regional Express.
Air express vs. Air Freight vs. Ocean freight etc. What are the critical numbers/thresholds?
Into Europe, Neil offers a mix of services for e-commerce shipping:
Express courier - a few boxes - up to about 100 kg total Gross Weight Air Freight -if you’re sending a pallet or two pallets by air freight Ocean Freight is more cost-effective above that.
Air express Air express is great for smaller shipments - something you need to send quick items that aren’t big or heavy.
As soon as it gets big or heavy, it’s not cost-effective in e-commerce shipping.
Shipments up to 100-110 kg in weight.
Door-to-door transit times can be 3-5 days. It can be good if looking to test the marketplace or getting in buffer stock to avoid doing OOS. Airfreight 120 kg plus and maybe palletised, you probably need air freight. Shipping out of USA into Europe (or anywhere) via Air Freight The “known/unknown” shipper makes a difference in e-commerce shipping.
If unknown - has to be on a cargo-only aircraft.
TSA database.
This can add 24-48 hours of transit time and extra cost Amazon will not act as the importer of record! A Freight forwarder will take care of this on your behalf. At what level of units/size/weight does ocean freight make more sense? Advise and educate seller best they can.
3 types of service
You need to be sending at least one cubic metre at least one pallet to avoid the minimum surcharges.
Sea freight is based on minimum 1 CBM “cube” or 1000 kg (99% best on volumetric weight=“chargeable weight”)
Otherwise, you’ll be hit with surcharges on your e-commerce shipping.
If you’re looking to move larger quantities, sea freight is obviously right anyway. Consolidation Freight Forwarders can consolidate multiple shipments into one container.
Generally, a freight forwarder will run a weekly consolidation - maybe from China or the UK.
They’ll receive say a couple of pallets in Shanghai in their warehouse and load into a container with up to 12 other customers’ cargo. That would be consolidated by container into the UK.
Once it arrives in the UK, it would be taken by van to the warehouse.
Then de-consolidated and shipped out to the final destination.
It adds to transit time compared to the whole container. Whole containers What is the breakpoint for e-commerce shipping? LCL vs. Container Loads 3 main types of containers:
20 ft standard 40 ft standard 40 ft high cube
The capacity of 20 ft is around 28 CBM at capacity “loose loaded boxes”. What is the breaking point where Container? Depending on current ocean rates, the breakpoint between LCL and container is about 12-15 CBM so about 12-15 pallets.
12-15 pallets will fill a 20-foot container. You can get 11 UK standard pallets in a 20-foot container.
If you’re going to use a container, you’re paying the same rate, so you don’t want to palletise before you ship. Palletising Most of the customers sell it as bulk loaded, then palletise it as US, UK.
Pallet built to max Amazon specification = 2.16 CBM, 600kg max weight.
If you’re shipping 10-12 CBM LCL is going to cost same as a full load - so buy more from a supplier because you’ll effectively ship it for free. Can you ship containers direct to Amazon? There are FCs that accept it.
But Neil encourages sellers to break it into palletise and forward that to Amazon.
If you ship a full container with goods that have moved, Amazon may refuse. How often are containers rejected by Amazon? A very high percentage of them rejected - about 80%!
So they never do it now! If they reject it what happens?
Wasted delivery fee. Pay for the container to go to another location. FC in Midlands, eg: Coventry back to Southampton port - several hundred pounds. Find warehouse locally and then unload,
Importing from China to the UK can get tricky at times. Today we learn from Neil Curran about the pros and pitfalls of the logistics industry.
What do you do at Regional Express? Door to door logistics
Freight forwarding
Eg: Manufacturer China, India
To the US or UK
Our own warehouse too
Airfreight, Ocean freight etc.
Core services are to help US sellers expanding to Europe. Freight Forwarding Door to door logistics
Freight forwarding
Eg Manufacturer China, India
To the US or UK
Our own warehouse too
The core of clients are US-based companies Typical supply chains from China - pros, pitfalls of each Manufacturer China-US
Manufacturer China - UK/Europe What are the potential pitfalls? Not knowing costs for a new marketplace when importing from China to the UK.
Especially in Europe - a big marketplace.
Know your tax - and duty.
Shipping and freight forwarding costs. Import duty and VAT Import taxes and VAT often not taken into account
Sales tax in the online marketplace.
They have a tax department at the Regional Express VAT and Americans It is a tricky subject! Overseas companies don’t really understand VAT. It scares them off with expansion to Europe.
But it’s not as tricky and scary as it seems.
It is just about understanding about what value you have to declare coming into Europe
Then when selling it to end-user, ensure you’re putting enough VAT.
This is because tax returns for VAT in the UK only filed once every 3 months
In Germany and France, it’s monthly. Top 3-4 facts about VAT in the UK that Americans don’t know
When importing from China to the UK, you have to pay import VAT. That’s generally paid by freight forwarding company on your behalf. The amount is effectively the manufactured amount from say China
If importing from the USA to UK additional factors:
Any charges from China to the US initially (that can be discussed case by case)
Import duty A lot of people miss this.
The VAT is 20% but import duty is product specific.
So know your HTS codes especially as they vary from 0 to 20% VAT zero-rated Depending on the type of product VAT can be different when importing from China to the UK.
This is because children’s clothing is VAT zero-rated.
A lot of food products
Always worth checking the HTS code - look at government platforms
HTS code will always tell you:
Import duty % VAT (whether it’s zero-rated)
How are import duty and VAT calculated Example:
Importing 2000 mugs, weigh 200g each Landed costs Value of goods (manufacture) eg £0.75
Shipping cost eg £0.25
insurance eg: zero adds up to “Dutiable value” eg 6% duty for plastic items
Eg: 6% of £1.00=0.06 Landed cost+duty+landing charges = VATable value Landing charges are based on the size of consignment NOT value of the consignment
The VATable value
VAT adjustment factor
Airfreight shipment of 400 kilos of that would effectively be 40p a kilo “VAT adjustment factor
=£160
The VATable total of 2220
VAT @20% =£444
Per unit = 22p per unit VAT
The VAT is a cash outlay- that money does get refunded/offset against your sales tax.
So that is a cashflow issue vs. Profit and loss issue. Be wary of deals with “free ocean freight” from China Often you get stung at the destination.
You get consistency in pricing from the freight forwarder.
Be very careful with Chinese manufacturers randomly changing things. How do people explore working with Regional Express? Please feel free to get in touch with him at:
neil@regionalexpress.co.uk
You can also visit their website: https://www.regionalexpress.co.uk/
Or call via the site +44 1794 516515 Special deal for 10K Collective Listeners When you email/contact/call Regional Express, if you use the Promo code of "10K" you’ll get these bonuses:
Bonus 1: VAT registration free of charge;
Bonus 2: discounted rates on VAT filing;
Amazon advertising strategy comes in many forms. Today we talk with Mike Zagare on his tips on ads advertising and profit margins.
Background: Mike Zagare is a recovering physical therapist.
2016-2017 he went all-in on Amazon. Learned PPC. Helped scale his business.
He started PPC entourage in order to handle the PPC across multiple (stock-keeping units) SKUs. The connection between margins and PPC In the summer of 2017, they were getting overcharged by thousands of dollars.
He had his Virtual Assistant go in and submit to Amazon to show them that they were getting overcharged.
That had a huge impact on his margins - 30% of margins went toward that one mistake.
How can we track this better?
What are the “margin eaters”? They have a big impact on the bottom line, margin. What are the big mistakes you see? Amazon has a lot of hidden fees that they call “margin eaters”.
Number one margin eater is the FBA fees. Amazon makes a lot of mistakes there.
Number two is PPC ad spend - it’s important to know what your margin ad spend should be for that individual SKU.
So a SKU with higher margin and low FBA fees means that you can afford to spend more.
Cindy Tomason “Profit First”
She said that 30% margin before overhead is necessary. Then you can afford to pay yourself and reinvest in inventory and operating expenses. FBA Fee mistakes The first mistake is not realising that there are fees.
The Range: 25-40% is within normal range; it can be as low as 15% if small, lightweight and decent value.
Packaging: how much does it weigh and what are the dimensions?
Get these details from the supplier and track what Amazon does.
They may mis-measure it this is an important part of Amazon advertising strategy.
Tracking this!
It’s very hard to get your money back! Prevention is key. How to correct these issues? Tracking! You need to get a chart over a period of time to see trends.
SKU by SKU - Then you need to see that - if it jumps up and it stays up there, it will stand out.
One of their SKUs gets remeasured often - Fees go from $5-12
You can see it. But you can also get an email alert.
You can put it in the system and send this over to Amazon to resolve.
So you notice the impact straight away on your Amazon advertising strategy. Any number of SKUs If you look at transactions every single day, at least weekly, you can do it manually. How do you deal with Parent-child variations? Some parent-child variations have more impact each day than after the “margin eaters”.
Then you can see child variations which will show you the margins. Diagnosing margin eaters in Amazon FBA fees are the biggest profit margin destroyer.
PPC ad spend including sponsored brand ads is one of the biggest of all.
Voucher/promo codes/lightning deals - target 2-5% “promo fees”.
Returns - can be a really big problem for a lot of sellers - 2-3%.
Storage fee: tends to be under 1% but can add up if in seller central for over a year.
There is also a COGS margin impact as well.
You also need to add in overheads - right now it’s a manual entry.
Get rid of underperforming SKUs - distribute to other products or other opportunities Is there a justification for low performing SKUs in terms of ROI? Yes sometimes, if you have products at low margin it can be a loss leader.
In some cases, it can be an entry point to the storefront.
Consumables are more justifiable in this case. Depends most on: What is the purpose of the lower margin? Long term play.
Collecting emails - collecting an email at breakeven is generally seen as good.
Exposure to other products. The “Sunk cost fallacy” It’s hard to chop products but you have to see it coming.
All the work you put in, the hopes and dreams can make it hard to chop.
But products do have a lifecycle, mostly of 3-4 years.
The margins shrink - PPC is too expensive. New tool =“Entourage margins”
What is your basic launch strategy? Every Amazon product launch strategy should be “Stick the landing” (make sure the product keeps the keyword ranking after the launch)
Build a great foundation.
Make sure it’s a strong listing Put targetted keywords in targetted places.
Great keyword research Title, bullets, backend keywords Search terms - exact search term
Target 2-3 keywords at a time. Use lower competition keywords. Eg: Helium10 and viral launch. Look at CPR tool on Helium10. Put it in prominent places. Higher ACoS is okay. You have no social proof yet.
If you used a launch service, that would be very expensive - 90% off.
Here we discount less but no launch service cost. So it’s more expensive but you have to be willing to take higher ACoS.
Use a coupon to overcome lack of social proof. 25-50% off. Tier 50% 2 weeks, 25% week, 10% off 1 week, then settle on target price after reviews. Create a portfolio of keywords Have each child as a “portfolio”. Have a launch. Start with an aggressive bid to overcome lack of campaign history. You’ll have to raise the bid initially. As you get better CTR and clicks. Track your keywords from the beginning
Do you go for exact search terms? Yes, and repeat it. Use Voucher codes (UK) or Coupon code (USA)
This is not a promo code. It’s an orange clickable coupon which draws the eye.
You can lower the coupon as you get your desired ranking. Campaign Organisation
Go after keywords with decent search volume 8-15 keywords Launch keywords or “opportunity ones”, make sure to have 2-3 keywords. Highly targetted ones (2-3 month aim).
Organising keywords by portfolios.
Improvement in budget allocation by this. FIRST SET OF CAMPAIGNS: Base Manual campaign
Ad group1: Broad match - 8-15 Ad group 2: Exact match (Optional 3rd) Use black box from Helium 10 to find poor competition to target
In this blog post is a whole discussion on product targetting - target products with some kind of poor competition eg: Poor listing, Low reviews. Moderate to aggressive bids Fixed bid strategy - because of not worrying about dynamic which it is related to, we can have more impressions.
Then move over to dynamic down the bid strategy.
Impressions are important: You want to see if Amazon will give impressions. Negative match keywords This minimises wasted ad explored.
Use keyword tree in Helium10 - not related to what you are selling.
Add in as a negative phrase match.
You should take note that 80% of wasted ad spend comes from one-off clicks.
It would be very hard to do negative exact match to do that. Auto Campaign Same negative keywords as Manual campaign. The 3rd campaign Is the highly targetted “opportunity keywords ”.
Mike prefers to set up a separate campaign per keyword.
You can have separate ad groups.
You can try a high bid or a moderate bid plus “top of search” modifier. Optional external ad campaign: Search-Find-Buy If they click on the sponsored ad, If CTR (Click-Through Rate) and CVR (Conversion Rate) are good, that history will be logged by amazon and give better costs in the future.
Use email list, directly to the Facebook group, then give away a coupon or a voucher - use this as part of your offer for your Amazon product launch strategy. Sponsored Brand campaign Is the third step, or the fourth campaign.
This is a way to get really great exposure.
Amazon is focussing on this and going to give more exposure in future.
Sellers don’t use this well.
A targetted sponsored Brand campaign uses the actual target keywords in the actual headline.
Plus pictures of the item eg: plastic cup
Plus landing page shows that.
You’re aligning everything with customer search term.
Usually exact match is best; Phrase match works too. Landing page strategy: It’s not about brand exposure so NOT going to a storefront.
What is your Amazon Suspension Risk? If you think you might be at risk of Amazon account suspension, we advise you to use the “Suspension calculator” on Joshua’s site right now. It might just help save your account!
To learn how to minimise Amazon suspension risk, the first thing is to read the main Amazon policies. Policies on suspension risks have changed over time.
If you’re doing something and you don’t know what the rules are, you’re bound to risk it! What are the main areas of rules that you recommend reading about? Broader policies: Selling policies and seller code of conduct. They have bullet points that are the basis for all the other “spirit of the law” especially IP.
It comes down to intentions from Amazon rather than actually stated.
Never put a product out that could harm an Amazon customer. Never misrepresent yourself. Never engage in misleading behaviour.
Other specific areas: Bundling policy
Drop-shipping policy (Added more recently) You should read this is if you’re a drop-shipper!
ASIN creation policy
Product details page rules
Variations
Duplicate listings as well It’s helpful for new sellers Amazon has tried to break down the ways people can abuse the platform.
Policies are actually a useful way into learning about being a better seller. Business Model A lot of it comes down to business model.
People doing less traditional methods generally run into more issues like:
RA. “Dropshipping” - just finding someone else with the product on Amazon. Listing items they don’t even intend to sell just to find out what will sell - is very risky.
When you hand the control off to someone else - whether sourcing products from someone else eg: Aliexpress or Dropshipping - you can run into conflict. How risky is drop-shipping in Amazon? There are two ways.
The first way is using a company that drop-ships properly , with a formal written agreement or written contract so you have evidence of authenticity.
RA doesn’t give you any of this, including evidence of being allowed to sell an authentic product. Can one product take down an account? It can. In one example Joshua dealt with, one customer complained about one product.
Amazon then investigated more products.
It then became a real issue. Having a lack of processes, documents and agreements increases Amazon suspension risk If you’re just building a hobby/side hustle, it’s not so critical.
When you’re building a serious business, even lifestyle business (ie: one for your own income that you don’t intend to build into a sellable asset), it’s much more important. How does that work? Eg: Getting into men’s T-shirts--you can only see the data if you offer a product.
Offer against popular products. Get a couple in stock - cancel or refund them. In a way, it’s a good idea, but you can run into a lot of trouble. Disappointing the customer is always a bad idea!
What sort of business model is safer? If done correctly, Private Label is the safest option.
Assuming your product is good - although Joshua had a case of the same product which 2 people branded - owner infringing on a patent.
There isn’t a formal protection on a lot of products - but you’re running the risk that you’ll run into issues. But this is less frequent than other models - it’s hard to infringe on a trademark if you have your own trademark.
A lot of the time, it just comes down to a piece of paper with a few signatures.
There was a period of suspensions for people using “velcro” which has to be called a hook and loop system - velcro is actually a trademarked name!
Tupperware is another one! Professionalisation is a big trend in Amazon That’s a big trend Joshua sees with suspensions and Amazon suspension risks.
Those who don’t do the business model in the way Amz want get a rougher time - even if it’s not an explicit violation.
Amazon account suspensions create numerous headaches and affect a lot of businesses around the world. Find out what Amazon Account Suspensions Expert Joshua Price has to say on today's episode. Are you at risk of Amazon Account Suspension? If you think you might be suspended, you could use the “Suspension calculator” on Joshua’s site
Joshua’s Background Working with Amazon for about 6 years
Worked on suspensions for 4 years. Suspensions Likelihood of suspensions Almost everyone has experienced an amazon account suspension at some point. Especially if you get rapid growth. Listing suspensions are also common They are more prevalent than account suspensions. Also, Amazon will normally block a listing before suspending accounts. How long do suspensions last? They vary a lot - may be forever; Or it might be back in a day! Downsides
You stop receiving money from Amazon - could be in the hundreds of thousands. You’ll usually get the money back after 90 days, deducting A-Z claims and refunds assuming you have a suspension type that allows that. However, Amazon may hold the money indefinitely!
What are the risk factors in account suspension? The most common one is about performance, account health and metrics.
Amazon sets the numbers and you can monitor those.
The second one is the policy violations --There are over a hundred pages of regulations!
The detail pages might be wrong, there might be a misuse of variations or IP infringement.
The third kind you might want to stay away from: related accounts, code of conduct, black hat stuff. What are related accounts? Amazon policy only allows one account per business.
If you have another business you can ask for another account.
If you open a new account, Amazon is likely able to link that to you. Clampdown on conduct related things In the last two weeks, Joshua has seen a lot of Amazon account suspensions, even for grey hat techniques.
If you’re close to the grey area, at the moment. Do these things really go through waves? It appears that way - but they don’t really. There are millions of sellers and there are constant changes by Amazon.
We all end up with seller friends in that situation which can skew our view.
Sometimes Amazon clamps down on things that become very public.
E.g. counterfeit goods a few years. What are policy violations? Commonest is Selling “inauthentic items” It’s very common to get a product listing blocked. It doesn’t have to be exclusively counterfeit.
It could be that a customer has complained about the ASIN - or the brand.
Amazon does operate in separate companies between North America and Europe. They have an Asian department for other marketplaces.
They have separate teams and databases - It’s very rare to have something transfer across from Europe to North America.
If you’re having issues with a product in the USA, e.g. IP, that doesn’t mean it’s not okay in UK.
So one of the best things you can do is to get stock out of the problematic marketplace. IP complaints They are quite a common thing. A lot of sellers will run into issues.
It’s a complex part of product sourcing and selling.
Some sellers have products more likely to run into that than others.
Even products purchased from Alibaba may have patents on them. Listing things in the wrong category For example, adult products in other categories.
If you’re using flat files, the “browse node” can be chosen by sellers, which is when they may try to play the system.
If you have one product here or there in the wrong category, Amazon may just change the category. Safety It’s rare that it will cause an account suspension but it may get your product blocked.
Certain categories like children’s clothes demand categorisation/testing etc.
The only reason it is likely to come up, is if a customer complains.
Because Amazon is getting more competitive,
Outsource Amazon tasks - with Connor Gillivan of Freeeup www.Freeeup.com - why did it start? The experience of Scaling their Amazon business. They tried to outsource Amazon tasks and got frustrated.
They hired people for Amazon tasks and were unimpressed with existing hiring platforms, like:
Upwork Fiverr Freelancer
Found amazing people to outsource Amazon tasks to, but frustrated with the hiring process:
Too much time posting jobs, interviewing and vetting 20 people Turnover Not supported by the platforms
They thought: in 2015, there must be a better way to do this? Connor Gillivan’s Background Connor is the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Freeeup, a platform that exists to help Amazon sellers outsource tasks.
Been in the e-commerce world since 2009.
Met business partner Nathan Hirsch in college.
Scaled business to over $25 million in products and hired over 50 people. What are the Core differentiators between Freeeup.com and the other platforms that help outsource Amazon tasks particularly?
Time-saving - 1000s of applications from VAs - vet - top 1% into network
Look at needs Intro to one person at a time Customer-service driven after Amazon
Amazon measure very precisely
What First Roles Might You hire for when you Outsource Amazon tasks? Customer service is usually the first Amazon task to outsource
Scary to some people because it’s frontline If you’ve been running CS for your business, you should have set processes in place Refunds, replacements, cancellations etc.
Because:
Time-consuming Distractor because it happens all the time
How do we ensure we don’t get Amazon Account suspension risk if we outsource customer service?
Be sure you’re careful who you hire to do Amazon customer service Give them 20-30 common emails and see how they respond
Don’t let them on the platform until they are tested
Create email templates for every single CS situation
Eg 15 most common situations Canned template
Hiring forces you to revisit SOPs, which is very powerful. Other first Amazon tasks to outsource?
Listing products (specialist)
If you’re consistently adding products.
Someone who specialises in this.
Keyword targetting
How to create text
Title Bullets Description Back end Check photos/make sure they are good.
What’s the best approach to handing off listings to an outsourcer?
Perfect it yourself Create a process
Have a template Have examples
Then hand it off
Eg Freeeup Ask specific Qs and check their knowledge Find the right person Share SOP Ask for their feedback Then have them create 1,2,3 sample listings Give them feedback based on that When it’s better than you, pass it off Set up system and managing
Hiring Experts for Amazon outsourcing Is it worth getting input from an Expert to get SOPs and patterns better before outsourcing?
Yes, it definitely is. It’s pretty affordable because you won’t need to do this often and it won’t take much of an expert’s time to create templates and SOPs for you compared to doing it yourself or creating it with the outsourcers.
Amazon specialist
Amazon Listings Amazon SEO from the “inside” ie experience Amazon launch from experience
Product line planning Amazon SEO/keyword ranking from the “inside” ie experience Amazon launch from experience Ongoing ranking and engagement
What other Amazon tasks roles would you outsource early? PPC management Because it’s a specialty that takes time to develop.
You can outsource things
That take up too much time/below paygrade Areas of business I don’t know enough about and it could be 3-6 months to become expert in that area.
You can even learn from the PPC expert over time So you get
Optimal use of money Learning
Sales tax and Shopify/ non Amazon e-commerce with Paul Rafelson What about sales tax for Shopify or other e-commerce business owners? The Amazon marketplace vs. Shopify Sales tax for Shopify business owners (or any similar system) is a different situation to that for sellers on marketplaces.
Amazon tries to play both sides of the fence with - they want to avoid bad things like sales tax by saying “sold by Joe Seller”, but they want to keep the customer relationship and branding.
Otherwise, you could claim your shop in New York City, for example, is “just a marketplace” for Chinese goods. This wouldn’t fly with NYC tax authorities. Apple’s App Store is NOT a “marketplace” from a legal perspective A recent legal ruling found that Apple’s App Store is NOT a “marketplace” but effectively Apple was using it as a retailer.
“Markup” or “commission” is the same thing according to the court. If a company acts as a retailer, it will be treated as a retailer. Selling direct to consumer Sales tax for Shopify or similar stores DOES become an issue for you. Because you're selling direct you to the consumer, you don’t have The marketplace agreement with Amazon kicking in.
The only defence against sales tax for Shopify business owners then is “it’s too burdensome”.
Eg 200 items sold in South Dakota - $20 about $4000 sales per state x 40 states - maybe $180,000 sales totally.
If you’re doing $100K in South Dakota, it might be fairer - but you’re probably doing some pretty big numbers anyway if you manage to achieve that. Example: If you’re doing $50,000 sales total in Shopify 20% of states probably make up 80% of sales
Probably: CA, FL, TX, NY, MA.
So most of your sales tax liability from your Shopify store can probably be dealt with in a few states.
If it costs you more to register than you have to pay, you may well be able to use the “burdensome” defence.
Jeff Schick is a multi-million dollar seller AND a lawyer shared his Taxjar bill for filing in Washington state.
Washington (State) has another tax “business and occupation tax” - is a small % tax that you pay not the consumer. He owed the state $30 but his Taxjar bill was $500. If you take a position under the constitution that it’s burdensome, you’re not breaking the law. 200 unit test States are starting to get rid of this test. Many tax law specialists find it absurd.
It’s problematic when states are unclear whether Amazon sales count towards overall sales thresholds.
Eg $200K Amazon sales in a state plus $500 of your own bills.
You can fight a state or pay a bill IF you get a bill. Plus penalty and interest. Say $100.
Paul’s very general position on this is that you may be better off waiting to actually get a bill before you worry about paying it or registering. Is this tax evasion to not pay sales tax for shopify slales? In 2016, a state passed a law saying they should pay sales taxes. Wayfair took a position they weren’t going to pay it. They lost - but, importantly, it wasn’t tax evasion, because they had a legal defence.
Anything which happens at the Supreme Court is normally a constitutional issue and thus a legally defensible position.
States passing laws that affect interstate commerce are basically unconstitutional. The laws have to be reasonable.
Normally the companies who take these positions are huge companies. When a Shopify seller can click one button and comply with all laws, there’s no reasonable defence. But that’s not the case at the moment. [In other words, for a small business to have to comply with expensive and difficult tax process is “burdensome”]. SIDENOTE: “Small business” defined (relevance: “Too Burdensome” defence against sales tax) US Definitions of a “Small Business” The US doesn’t have a clear federal definition of “small businesses”. The Small Business Administration (SBA) does define them, but by industry. In the retail trade,
Tax Nexus with Paul Rafelson What is “Tax nexus”? And is this relevant? Tax Nexus is a question of whether a government has jurisdiction over you, ie, can they make you do things?
Eg The State of Alabama has little jurisdiction over you if you live in UK.
If you engage in certain activities, you may get “nexus”. Does Tax nexus matter? It depends! States that don’t have “marketplace facilitator laws” including Maine, Vermont, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida might chase up individual Amazon sellers, or their companies.
There are 2 types of Tax Nexus
“Tax Nexus under existing laws”
In order to have tax nexus - pre wayfarer law required physical presence.
Tax Nexus under “due process”
This might happen, for example, if the business is not present in the state, but is availing itself of that state’s jurisdiction, and is attempting to capture the Alabama market (as distinct from US market)
If you don’t have due process nexus, tax nexus should not even come into play!
Eg your company didn’t put a product in Alabama - Amazon put it there.
You didn’t put it there for a strategic reason eg to get into the Alabama state.
This removes the due process nexus!
Tax Nexus Case 2011 J Macintyre
J Macintyre had consigned inventory in a state (NJ). The supreme court found that wasn’t enough to create tax nexus. Company inventory was placed there by another company. It was put into the “stream of commerce”.
Wayfair decision - what was it, what did it mean for Amazon sellers?
This was a landmark case of summer 2018. The upshot was that Physical presence was no longer a requirement for sales tax. Physical presence was a “bright line” law 1992-2018. There was a previous history.
The wayfarer decision said: In today’s economy, we are no longer going to require physical presence. However...There is a 4-part test to see if a state has the right to tax a company:
Complete nexus Fairly divided Not overly burdensome (shouldn’t favour one state over another) Rationally related to services and benefits you receive from the state.
Wayfair only gets to ONE of the 4 tests.
Wayfair is also a massive company - which is why when the company claimed it was an “undue burden”, the court didn’t believe them!
However, this was a case about a big company.
The court was clear that if there will be a physical nexus case, the jury is still out.
Its decision does NOT mean that small businesses don’t have the right to challenge it as overly burdensome.
Undue burden defence
The court did say “in dicto” (i.e., it’s not setting a precedent) - the way it’s going: the states are going to have to make it easy for small businesses to comply with the law.
A small business can bring a case and challenge the law; however, IF there is software out there that makes tax compliance easy, then it’s unlikely that small business can overcome it (eg the streamlined business software). However, it’s unlikely to be solved soon!
The question is: How do you find a company that can do the 50 states compliance for a small business?
The big 4 KPMG, Deloitte, EY, PWG - too expensive!
A local accountant cannot do this!
Does tax nexus matter?
No! If you just sell on Amazon, Amazon will collect most of the tax.
Summary for US Amazon sellers
Why would now be the time to get registered for sales tax? In a few months, it won’t be your responsibility in the majority of states because Amazon will not
Yes, the government can try to make you miserable - California has been trying for years! But that’s not a good enough reason to register.
What about back taxes?
If in theory, you are already on the hook for 5 years’ worth of sales tax, why start now?
If you’re already liable for 10X life savings, why change now?
If you register now for sales tax and give in to the government, they’re not offering great deals.
you still need to pay it or fight it.
Sales tax law with Paul Rafelson of eCommerce Attorneys part 1 What is happening with Sales tax law - simple summary? It’s been a developing issue of last few years. Sales tax law has been a driving issue of life being difficult for e-commerce sellers in the USA.
However, things are looking up for Amazon sellers.
A few years ago, some sellers were told to register and collect sales tax in every state. That isn’t really easy to do.
Over the last year, most of the important states (for e-commerce sales) have moved to the “Marketplace collection model” regarding sales tax law. This fundamental change in sales tax law means that they are making the marketplaces - including Amazon - responsible for collecting sales tax.
Paul has said all along this is the requirement!
By October, just about “every state you care about” (see list later) will change their sales tax law to require Amazon to be the tax collector. Why have so many lawyers or accountants been telling sellers to register for and collect sales tax? Money! It’s lucrative - it makes more customers.
Even for a sales tax law expert and a lawyer who represents sellers, Paul could have jumped on the bandwagon, eg fighting back tax liability. But he felt it was wrong.
People Paul respects in the space have however NOT been telling sellers to register. Paul’s background He was a tax litigator for 15 years. In house counsel for Microsoft, Walmart, GE.
Fought most states except Hawaii!
Teaches a course in constitutional law in NY.
Used to be an Amazon seller and wife used to work for seller performance and have drinks with them. So he understands Amazon sellers. Why Paul co-created ecomattorneys.com Most lawyers who deserve the respect of Amazon and e-commerce sellers are normally the ones who sellers couldn’t afford.
So Paul decided to make himself a lawyer for Amazon sellers. Tax is the main starting point, especially sales tax law.
He was partly motivated by bad information out there about tax and tax law, especially sales tax law. If you get on enough podcasts, you get credible even if you don’t have the CV/resume.
Look in Youtube for podcasts, Youtube - Paul has been pretty anti sellers registering for sales tax, even when states were offering back tax amnesty. Isn’t it just the safest thing to comply with sales tax law? The first issue is that it’s not affordable.
Paul works with companies that do $100 M off Amazon - even $10 M - they DO have to register.
But if you’re doing $2-4 M on Amazon, the hassle and time needed is a lot and probably just not affordable. The hidden issue with sales tax: other tax liabilities If you register with software companies - they are sales tax specialists; but there is more to it than sales tax.
There’s income tax, corporation tax etc.. So you can often put yourself in more danger based on the other taxes other than sales tax.
The law is - you’re not a retailer when you sell via Amazon!
If you’re doing things like Amazon does - Amazon is effectively acting as a retailer so it should legally be treated as one.
That’s what California law says. It’s not what the state of California does - and many of the states have been influenced by Amazon and pushed down this road. But that tide is now turning. Moot Point It’s also now a moot point. Amazon is now to become a sales tax collector by end of year in the majority of important states.
The only major state (in terms of e-commerce revenue) that won’t do it this year is Florida - the Republicans thought it was a tax increase (it wasn’t, according to Paul, because it’s just changing the method of collection).
However even Florida, in theory, does hold Amazon responsible for sales tax collection. [It just isn’t really implementing it yet - Michael]. Constitutional law Sales tax law splits broadly into the state and federal level. Constitutional law over-rides what the states say - you can’t make a small seller shoulder the...
Selling on Amazon for retailers with Will Tjernlund of Goat Consulting Selling on Amazon for retailers is what you specialise in. What is the biggest learning from running your Amazon Agency (Goat Consulting)? Selling on Amazon for retailers can be a little confusing. Every retailer thinks they have a unique Amazon story. And they think they can’t solve the issues of Selling on Amazon.
But more and more, retailers have the same issues selling on Amazon as each other. What are the typical issues when Selling on Amazon for retailers? “We’ve been selling x product for y years.”
“We are the Apple of our niche. We have a great product.
"We sell on the 3 stores. "
On Selling on Amazon issues for retailers:
the photos don’t line up People selling below MAP pricing What do we do? (General confusion)
Retailers don’t know the difference between Seller Central and Vendor Central
They don’t know how to raise a case with Amazon. Getting organised when selling on Amazon for retailers: It seems like retailers have 100 SKUs on Amazon, each with unique problems.
In reality, you can organise the problems into 4 buckets.
Then it can take 3 days to solve an issue that was bugging the retailers for years.
Eg a photo issue on every single listing.
You need to speak Amazon’s language. It’s not a big deal. For retailers selling on Amazon, why get an agency involved? It's like laying tiles in a bathroom. You can lay 1, 2 or 3; but you aren’t going to want to do 50 or 100 tiles yourself.
Goat consulting thrives by sorting out chaos, not micromanaging.
They can’t really improve on well-optimised listings and good sales. Solopreneurs micro-managing A lot of them watch “hustle” porn - hurry up and wait!
They feel there is nothing to do when going home from work.
They are constantly looking for hacks. Instead of just launching more SKUs. Over optimising a listing can be detrimental to ranking Will’s company doesn’t want to mess with a good listing which is working well.
6 months’ PPC optimization can make a difference but it takes time and data to improve on an already good listing.
Sometimes it takes time to figure out negative keywords.
So you need more budget and more time to figure out the perfect Keywords.
In an ideal world, ACoS would equal profit margin - running at breakeven would get based data and best ranking.
Especially if they are consumables. Taking a longer view Who cares if we’re not profitable for 6 months if this listing will be ranked for the next 6 years?
There are Amazon listings that are 15 years old!
Especially if you’re ranking for a kitchen gadget like a whisk. When selling on Amazon for retailers, what are the best Cashflow management practices? Some of these costs are just a rounding error to big companies!
One of the companies Will consults with just got 38 containers of ONE SKU!
Will doesn’t get into inventory management - these guys have that down pat. Ideal clients Who are the companies that struggle to move onto Amazon? Those retailers whose systems are not digitised yet struggle with selling on Amazon.
If they can just send a dropbox link, it’s easy.
At the other extreme, one company can’t even figure out the password! Are there characteristics of poor clients? Sometimes culture or just sour person!
Sometimes there is a startup with funding trying to be “the new paper towel brand” trying to pay 300% ACoS and make the P & L work! How you analyse a client - common sense First and foremost - check for no conflict of interest with existing clients.
Can’t segment teams up and not talk about clients.
Go to website straight away - check “lead bot”
Does URL match the URL they say Look them up on Linked IN Look on SellerCentral
Do they have EBC (Enhanced Brand Content)? Photos - do they use all 9? Are they good? Competing for buy box? Reviews? Seller account? Seller feedback?
Competitor Analysis on Amazon with Will Tjernlund of Goat Consulting People who eat sleep and breathe Amazon are focused on competitor analysis of Amazon e.g Best Seller Rank.
Whereas Will wants to deep dive into the whole marketplace and analyze the seller as a whole:
Do they have multiple products? One? Are they resellers or do they have own brand?
Jungle Scout and viral launch don’t tell you who you’re competing with.
Multinational brands often have no idea what individual customers want.
The Psychology of different sellers and what they want is important.
With the agency, Will has experienced so many different business models - which has built his repertoire of knowledge. Why is it good to compete with multinational brands? If you search for ‘air pods” from Apple - none of the listings are optimized!
Amazon is 3% of Apple’s total sales - an opportunity for people to rank for the AirPods keywords
Have wallets open Intent to buy!
Competition analysis Pull up sales estimation software
How big is the pie as a whole in the first 2 pages Who has how much of each slice?
If everyone has 10% of a market - if you take 1% off each, you can get 10%
But in some niches, the top listing has 80% of sales; remainder splits the 20%.
Taking sales off the top listing is unlikely; The rest will be fought over scraps. “Star Principle” Going after a growing niche and dominating it (% of market share) is often the winning strategy. The problem of maxing out the pie Some companies dominate 85% on amazon
They say - “We’re an Amazon company but We’ve maxed out ads spend.”
Will says that at this point, it’s up to the seller do email and social media marketing as Amazon may have reached its peak sale. Seller psychology A lot comes back to psychology
For example, is a hammer sold on a need basis?
If yes, we should be optimizing for profit, if not going for past Shelf Keeping Unit. Easier to compete with people who are adding SKUs Will’s brother has 200,000 Shelf Keeping Units
He uploads entire catalogs.
Those people are easy to compete with as they aren’t focussed on any particular product line. Tell us about the type of business models that get used in the Amazon space Example If you see 50% off - 200,000 listings - you can figure out a couple of things are going from them.
You can order 99 from them - are they trying to liquidate something quickly?
If they have 200,000 listings, that’s what they’re doing.
Whereas if someone is doing 50% off and have only 1 product, they are going out of business! Main business models Private Labeler Listen to podcasts, tips, and tricks.
They have minimal SKUs that are focussed
They are tough to compete with as they are very aware of what is happening with relatively few SKUs and good Amazon tactical ability. Brick and mortar stores 5% of sales on amazon
But not willing to burn bridges
These are much easier to compete with.
B2B (Business-to-Business)
Used to different sales channels and middle Men
Now coming to B2C for the first time
This is what goat consulting specializes in. Internal culture shift in going onto Amazon When established businesses that sell B2B(Business-to-Business) or brick and mortar go onto Amazon, there is often a big culture shift.
Which departments get involved is an issue!
They are not even aware of which depts should work.
Inventory management syncing with Amazon.
Tax nexus is an issue too.
A lot of Amazon consultants choose not to handle this. It doesn’t scale via software -
But Will’s background with his family’s company shifting culture gives him a perfect background for that. How to change the culture Upper management is normally the issue. The older CEO with maybe 3-4 years before retirement. They don’t want to change. The person who googles for Amazon consultant and finds Will’s company is normally the person who wants them and is th...
Pricing Psychology with Paulina Masson of Shopkeeper.com Pricing psychology - is there a simple rule of thumb or complex? Pricing psychology can be somewhat complex.
The biggest first thing to say about pricing is to keep it simple!
If you make price plus discount hard to calculate that puts buyers off
Think of $20 price plus $3 coupon
Two options on amazon
Round $ amount %age off
Paulina usually uses amount, but if high price point, give % off
It’s easier to calculate. Testing of Price vs. Coupon Which converts better?
$21 product plus $3 coupon
$21 product plus $4 coupon -
The $20 offer works better. Why?
PM believes that if it is a multiple of 21 (trained with multiplication table) we calculate discount quicker. Using Split Testing to Determine Price Points Most split testing on Amazon is not done well.
PM wouldn’t recommend it for the most thing unless you have a consistently high volume on top sellers in a short time. Why not? Statistical significance Statistical significance is needed! 25 sessions are not enough.
Other things change: PPC gives waves of traffic so you’d need to turn it off.
Seasonality is strong- and festivals eg the Cinqo de Mayo Split testing for a week PM runs like this:
One price for two weeks (tools online calculate statistical sign)
Put the number of sessions - CVR wanted - tool gives statistical significance 500 views a day, want 15% CVR (have 12% at the moment ) the tool tells you to run for
Did a whole year of split testing. Split testing is hard - decide price more by your reading of the marketplace Mostly on Amazon, we are competing on price - you can’t split test luxury
Overall supply and demand.
Split testing big differences will show up - but small differences a harder to work out. Pricing Psychology Tricks: Strategies in Picking the Right Pricing Why use .99 in end or .97? $29.99 vs $30 - we all read left to right so “twenty-something” implies it’s cheaper
Also, we started equating “$0.99” to bargain and also low quality.
If you’re positioning the product as a luxury product for the spontaneous buyer. Eg $28 vs. $27.99.
It’s a differentiation point.
$0.97 vs. $0.99 vs. $0.79 probably doesn’t make so much difference.
People will still read it as “twenty-something” - it gives extra work for the consumer’s brain.
Plus you make more profit. Odd numbers vs. Even numbers Because we are so conditioned to $x.99 - we are conditioned to feel that odd numbers
Even numbers give more of a luxury feeling eg $22
Odd numbers give more of a bargain feeling eg $21 What does the Shopkeeper app do? It’s a gross margin calculator but more of a business dashboard.
You can decide what the key things are going to be for you to focus on.
It’s designed to be very quick and easy to see P & L by profit line.
You can then dig into more and more complexity
amazingfba.com/shopkeeper redirect to an Affiliate link
Very nice deal - most software gives 30-day free trial.
This has 6-month free trial to analyze data and explore the tool.
If you’re a beginner, you can’t usually afford tools like this - but this is a huge opportunity to get to know the tool. Bonus Most apps give a 30-day trial
But Paulina is offering 6-month free trial
amazingfba.com/Shopkeeper What is your one tip for a serious seller on pricing? Make a task to simplify your pricing.
Simplification is the key to getting better conversions.
It’s the key to making more money. You don’t have to raise prices.
You can raise your click-through rate. This translates to more traffic from Amazon.
_________________________________________________ TRANSCRIPT Michael Veazey 0:04 Okay, so we've let's get on to the psychology. So we've touched on it a little bit, particularly with the methodical versus the spontaneous buyer. So is there any sort of big picture psychology that drives pricing?
Amazon Pricing Strategies with Paulina Masson of Shopkeeper.com How does using an app like Shopkeeper.com for Amazon pricing strategies fit into your overall e-commerce strategy? Amazon Pricing Strategies and managing cashflow - you have to decide strategically, especially cashflow. Background Software developer - looking for tools to make life easier.
As entrepreneur it’s nice to stick to creative, best outsource or automate repetitive tasks.
Did lots of online marketing, affiliate marketing etc.
PM Amazon seller from 3 years ago
Interested in profit etc.
Has own app “Shopkeeper” like Fetcher, Helloprofit
But Geared to non-technical users Tell us about Amazon Pricing Strategies Paulina has been interested in pricing for a long time.
Pricing is critical for the whole business
You could maximise out of 10 products just on pricing strategies. Pricing psychology & practical things in Amazon FBA seller central E.g split testing and add-on items Practical Amazon pricing strategies in Seller Central Free Shipping threshold Every marketplace has a threshold for non-Prime users.
Eg USA $25, UK £20
PM recommends look at product range - products below threshold eg $21 - $25.99 Results
$4 extra profit (most products $30 sales price, make $10 so $4 is huge) Consumer has free shipping but will pay LESS - $21=$26.50; instead, they pay $25.99 In search results “free shipping” checkbox - highly used feature on Amazon
Most people don’t use coupons as part of Amazon pricing strategies They’ve been available on .com for a long time
Recently in the UK/Europe. Used to be only Promo codes - 10%
You get a green tag
Most sellers are not doing it, even advanced sellers Benefits of using Amazon coupons
Personalisation - buyers only look at it from a personal perspective - me me me
“Coupon sharing box” - 20% off - click - “coupon applied”
“I got something for free” - a little excitement
A little more stickiness to listing
Amounts - why $3 off etc. How to decide on pricing We generally charge around what we personally would pay the most, eg $30 for a knife sharpener.
This is the worst way to decide your price.
You are in a box created by your own financial limitations.
There are people who would pay $38 without thinking.
Base your price only on the marketplace
You want to decide your positioning, e.g., be a luxury brand in a cheap market.
Maybe everyone is similar - be different. Don’t base the decision on a snapshot of today Eg Jungle Scout - eg $15,16,17 - I’ll charge $14
Look out for promos and season
Look at tools that show the history of the price of the top competitors Deciding between cheaper and more expensive ones Eg Paulian’s brother is a methodical buyer - uses tools, compares products on different sites - waits for a week.
Paulina is a spontaneous buyer - if it’s under $200, she just uses the front page of Amazon.
This probably 40% of buyers on Amazon.
It’s not a generalised thing - it’s specific to price point and buying behaviour.
Amazon attracts an audience that is methodical buyers
Analyse competition: which buying type are they targeting?
Most go for methodical type buyers
Position self for spontaneous buyers.
You can’t be both cheap and good - you need to choose. Bargain or luxury end?
Decide that first then you set pricing. What can we engineer off Amazon FBA to drive a better price On Amazon for methodical buyers? There are a lot of coupon code sites - they often scrape Amazon and Walmart.com
They might pick up those if you put the coupon codes on Amazon
If you’re a popular brand, you could submit a coupon to sites like this
Find “Submit your own coupon code”
“The box of death” - if you check/tick it - coupon code is displayed.
If you do by accident, it will wipe out inventory
But you can do this on purpose.
You’ll backlink - Google signals are stronger - Amazon like b...
Unethical Chinese Amazon Black Hat Tactics with Kevin King Contents:
Amazon Black hat in China - What Chinese sellers are learning
Amazon's response to Black Hat Is it worth spending time worrying about Unethical black hat tactics in Amazon? Yes it is serious. Kevin likes to keep to white hat on Amazon. But he likes to know what’s Chinese Amazon sellers are doing. Amazon Black Hat training in Canton Kevin was speaking at the MDS - Million dollar seller group with Brandon Young They were invited to an event. It’s a weekly meeting on Amazon black hat tactics- and there were 1300 people there! It was a Sunday meeting - and it was all about reviews. The following meeting completely new topic. Chinese Communist Party is involved with Amazon Black Hat Strategies They were in a side room with a promoter. Then Kevin heard a loudspeaker - the Communist Party turned up. If you have over 1000 people at a gathering, you’re required to ask the Communist Party. Being a good citizen - like a mini pep rally. In USA, they pledge allegiance; in UK, you might sing something! [not really! - ed.] Professional events for Amazon Black Hat There are 1300 people - nice room, 5 screens (like a big football match) - host is beautiful. The 5-6 speakers that spoke (in Chinese) were all about getting reviews with Amazon Black Hat tactics. These guys paid 30 RMB - $6-7 to come to the event The info was things that in the USA, Europe, you’d pay $5-10K to learn! Kevin and Brendon presented on white -hat tactics - using Manychat (Brendon) and postcards (Kevin)
Check out Helium10 Tools to start, run, and grow your business.
Chinese style product research
The next day they did a special event for $300 each About 60 people came. Brendon asked: how are you finding products? Their system was look on Jungle Scout to figure out what to sell - get it made - and then use Black hat techniques to get it launched. Amazon Black hat tactics being taught in China
How to get 2000 buyer accounts. How to get 2000 credit card numbers eg bank of America will give you 600 of them!
They have the inside SOPs from Amazon. eg “Don’t leave a review within 14 days” However, most don’t do social media. Why Chinese sellers use Amazon black hat techniques One of the guys came over to the hotel - been in Wall Street Journal - spoke to a few of the guys. Kevin asked him point blank -
How do we compete with Amazon black hat users in China? Why are they teaching black hat in China?
The reason why is “because it’s super competitive in China. There are 1.4 B people here! Also we’re “communist capitalists” - if we see an opportunity to make money, we need to grab it. We’re not trying to build a brand. We don’t care about having 50 amazon accounts. Also, we don’t know whether the Chinese gov’t will make it illegal or tax us a lot. “ In the US or UK, economies more democratic. The situation in China is different. Amazon Seller Black hat users - who is doing this? Most of the 1300 people at the event turned out to work for big companies - Kevin’s US friends say: Only about 60 companies in China cause all the issues. There is one doing $1B sales. They have 3 floors of a building, with 1000 people per floor. They have people responsible for 5 products on Amazon; same products on eBay, 5 other guys. Also they work almost non-stop - “9X9X6” - 12 hours a day, 6 days a week (9 am -9pm) Work for $1000 a month! Launching product after product - don’t care if 4/5 fail. Amazon courting Chinese factories Amazon is courting Chinese sellers - lightning deals etc. Amazon is all about giving the customers the best price - that’s why they’re courting the Chinese so heavily. Marketplace plus - 40% of all active Amazon seller accounts are coming out of China. Most out of the Southern Coastal region: between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Yiwu and Hangzhou Amazon Insider information
How to Source Products from China for Amazon with Ash Monga of Imex Sourcing When sourcing Amazon products from China, do sellers/retailers need to have staff on the ground in China? Do you need to have a native Chinese speakers and contacts? If so, how do you know who to trust? When you source products from China for Amazon, it does make a huge difference if you have native Chinese contacts - the majority of QC issues are down to communication issues. Communication is not just language, it’s culture and expectations as well. Having people on the ground does help. In low-trust countries like China and India, people like to do business with people they know. Trust in the legal systems is lower. Going to suppliers and presenting yourself and showing you have an established business. Price and credit terms are often improved. Suppliers like to visit offices - esp. those running small to medium sized factories. Their due diligence is knowing you in person and making a judgement call. How can you tell who works directly for a factory and who is an agent when you source products from China? Again due diligence is the key and being on the ground makes a difference. Imex also does this as part of ad-hoc company verification. When you source products from China, verify an individual to see if a person is actually employed in China when you source products for Amazon (or any other marketplace).
They just call the factory. In the early days, one guy sat somewhere trying to convince someone is the boss Someone also claimed to be a manager but nobody recognised him! Factories have great relationships with trading company
Does it even matter if someone is an agent? Yes it does, but if you’re a small buyer, it might not make a difference. The trading company does add value - eg speaking English Does it make a difference to price? Yes it does make an impact on pricing Does it affect quality?
For Imex, it does make a difference to quality control How to source Amazon products from China Yourself Do I need to visit China? There are different views on this. Traditional importers are big on doing this. It comes down to ROI - for a $5000 order, there’s no point in spending $5000 on flying in and hotels etc. As volume increases, it makes sense. However these days you can do a lot online. What are the best ways to source from China online? Do due diligence - ad hoc supplier check from Imex $200-300 25 pages, supplier’s IP, financials etc. Put contract in place Have a solid QC As a minimum
Have a Pre Shipment Inspection Get a carton of random products pulled out and shipped to you
It adds a week or two to your supply process, but you keep control. How do you deal with contracts? Anything that goes wrong eventually translates into the contract - have 25 pages. It’s a great negotiation tool- Imex has a good track record of recovering money from suppliers when things go wrong. An English contract is better than nothing at all. Is it more powerful to have things in writing? Yes, it is a better negotiation tool. Send 5 page contract to some suppliers and it’s returned within 5 minutes stamped, so they don’t really read it unless things go wrong. Is it possible to get a lawyer draw up a Chinese contract? You can draw these things up online. If your goal is just to get the supplier on the same page, a simple contract in English. How should Amazon sellers outsource their sourcing from China? It’s very fragmented. Imex does full supply chain management
Production management Contracts Supply chain management
It comes down to something that is a fit for your needs. Recently a client just starting out who wanted someone to visit factories for 2 weeks In this case freelancer is best. Whereas if you’re looking to scale the business, you should consider outsourcing the whole business to someone like Imex Sourcing. Contact: Imexsourcingservices.com
Getting Products Made in China with Ash Monga, Founder and CEO of Imex Sourcing, What are the 2-3 most important things you think a serious e-commerce, Amazon, ebay or seller needs to consider when try to getting products from China to sell? Know what you want Most important thing about getting Quality Products from China: know exactly what you want. Sellers often pick opportunities based on JS etc. You can order a sample, check components. Go to Youtube and look at production process for that product. Suppliers will usually quote you for minimum possible spec, usually non compliant. Once you get into specifics, price goes up. So part of Getting Quality Products from China is clarifying specification upfront. For product Quality from China, carry out a pre-shipment inspection Another key to Getting Quality Products from China is to carry out a pre-shipment inspection at a minimum. That's because it is easier to fix issues while goods are in china. Negotiation power is less when they’ve gone. If serious seller/good money, do due diligence on supplier How do you do due diligence on Chinese Suppliers? How long in business? Production capability? QC processes are the key of Imex - supplier intelligence is focus now,
get access to financial numbers See which market exporting to
DIY Supplier Due Diligence There is a simple ad-hoc “supplier background check” Imex offers - basic and advanced levels There are a lot of ad-hoc tools out there. Importgenius Pangiva Access to customs data
Which countries export to?
Ash Monga's Background Tell us a bit about your background… Ash Monga started with bringing in fashion accessories from china and India - ebay was the king and Amazon was bookseller. Built a substantial business. What made you start a sourcing company? China is where the action is. First year was meeting people, going to China About 5 years ago, ASM, that’s when business focus changed to e-commerce. Now only for e-commerce sellers. Have online dashboard to allow clients to Main Amazon Seller Needs/main sourcing issues Issues with sourcing - quick outline
Quality Speed of response Trustworthiness
Avoiding charlatans How do I know if the person I’m dealing with is for real?
QC The biggest issue for many Amazon retailers is getting variable or mediocre quality products from China to sell. What are the most important simple things retailers can do from outside China to work on getting quality products? Quality breaks into different processes 1. Supplier shortlisting - doing due diligence
QC process - good contract defining everything agreed.
In Chinese if possible Names of components etc. QC checklist - act as the standard against which goods are checked
Get a sample that is 90% right
Retailer then goes back to supplier and say “we want this small thing changed” Supplier says “don’t worry we’ll sort this out” Often it won’t be addressed - they may Key is you have to approve sample BEFORE You get into bulk production
Chinese Supplier "Quality Culture" There is a deeper issue in terms of the quality In China if you’re 90% there, suppliers think you’re being fussy/unfair. Generally Chinese don’t complain about e.g poor service in China. There is also conflict of interest - suppliers want to maximise margin. For sellers, while margin is key, so is quality. Be very upfront about quality expectations. Imex never just approves samples without giving client their say too. Quality is subjective. Big organisations can go out and do market research to find out what customers really want. If it’s a new product, it’s harder to find this out. But there is always the What are the key steps to increase consistent quality over time when buying products from China? Work with supplier to understand process improve QC checklist If you have good process you can go from 0 to 95% in 1st order
FBA Customer Returns Report- How to get your money back as an Amazon FBA seller! with Ben Chambers of Refund Hunter Amazon FBA Customer Returns are a tough area to get reimbursed for because of a few factors:
Seller initiated refunds
Simple thing is detecting when customer been refunded and not returned product Hard thing is to know whether Amazon initiated the refund or the customer
Sometimes the seller will refund things themselves
Amazon will say - you’re ineligible for a reimbursement
Some companies are aware of this and they also provide return labels to own warehouses NOT back to Amazon
For them, they already know what they are doing Other sellers do put everything through Amazon Especially higher volume folks
For FBA , amazon is supposed to handle reimbursements generated by FBA customer returns. However, if customer contacts seller directly, the seller often refunds them directly. Issue is if that customer does not return product, amz will know seller refunded customer and won’t reimburse the seller. Often seller will say - “Don’t worry about returning product”. But this communication is not included in reports. Doing this yourself
look at refund report -
reports>payments>transaction report - sort refunded orders
fba customer returns report
Generated whenever a customer goes back 2 FCs for returns Las Vegas and Kentucky
Also check a 2nd report - inventory event report
Unsellable inventory - getting reimbursed How should seller handle the mix of volume and detail? Download stuff into a pre made excel spreadsheet How does Refund Hunter handle the mix of volume and detail? Their software crunches through a lot of stuff. The report reading is the automated part. Also have account managers who
will double check on that Raise the tickets to be filed - raising Cases with Amazon
Values you add is understanding the level of understanding of a particular Seller Central employee They see 100s/1000s of different cases with Amazon Ben does a lot of training Deciphering what Amazon agents say is important Realising which Amazon agents know what they are doing. OFFER Reimbursement product - charge 25% of what they get back. How to Refund Hunter Seller central API access Amazon’s info and api is not always same as see on seller central Access different reports Handle case creation and followup Take 25% of whatever gets reimbursed By invoice - detailed invoice with case and reimbursement id To explore working with Ben and his colleagues, contact Refund Hunter Here
For an interview with Ben Chambers on getting your FBA Seller Refunds back, CLICK HERE
Transcript Michael Veazey Welcome, take a collective that is fairly straightforward, the inbound shipping thing can be dealt with pretty straightforward me now even though I was being nasty about it to say politely tell us about customer returns, because I can imagine that once you include the customer, he's also a capricious beast in the mix, that it starts to get more complex.
Benjamin Chambers 1:15 So this one is, you know, the main thing is customers just not returning the products within the window frame or you know, not at all, they just don't even return the product at all. The hard part with this is, the hard part that all reimbursement services have is this is one really big issue is because a lot of sellers will what Amazon calls a seller initiated reimbursement, where for FBA policy, Amazon is the one who's supposed to be handling all of the customer return process. But a customer will contact the seller directly and say, hey, I want a reimbursement for this product. And then the seller will say the correct way shouldn't be directing them to Amazon, customer support. And the Amazon agent will be the one who issues them the reimbursement. But a lot of times sellers who just want to take care of the problem and you know,
FBA seller refunds with Ben Chambers (operations manager) of Refund hunter Why do people need Refund Hunter/Refund Hunter? Amazon FBA seller refunds is a real issue. Often sellers often have unclaimed funds. That's because they:
Don’t have know-how Don’t have time to get that money back
Who uses Refund Hunter? Wide range of customers need to get FBA seller refunds:
Corporations doing $10’s of millions Lots of big Chinese manufacturers these days. Anyone who can’t scale out a dedicated team of people filing 1000s of cases over year (Some other people have VAs that manually file claims)
Do you support European markets? Yes - Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain); North American markets (USA, Mexico, Canada); and Japan are all supported. What are the sources of FBA seller refunds that Amazon owes? FBA seller refunds come from 3 basic causes:
Warehouse discrepancies (lost inventory) Customer returns Inbound shipments
Under that they branch into 3 fields. Which is the biggest cause of lost in FBA seller refunds? Lost inventory! What’s the problem with lost inventory? Things get lost in Amazon; Amazon requests 30 days to find product or reimburse FBA seller for it. After 30 days, Amazon lets you raise a case. Refund Hunter look at the inventory (18 months of numbers)
Lost report Found report Reimbursements reports
Inventory adjustments report - in warehouse itself For people who don’t have a lot of SKUs, this isn't an issue; but if you have 4000-5000 SKUs, it's a big problem. With say 10-20 SKUs, what are the DIY solutions to getting FBA seller refunds ? Easiest to find is lost and damaged inventory. Lost inventory Simplest way - video 11 minute walk through - click here. Ben makes a pivot table in excel. Move fields around - sum number at end. Do It yourself for 2 months to test it. Inventory codes - for movements and descriptions: F - found; M - misplaced Put in date range - downloaded report 100 lost events, 98 found events Online is cleaner but only 50 lines Cross reference with Inventory report - if that number isn’t equal, then some units are lost. From there, file a ticket, and give Amazon the details. Sometimes if sellers are just starting out selling on Amazon, Ben will teach them how to do this themselves. Relatively DIY method
Download excel file Create a pivot table Contact Ben on a one-to-one basis!
Refund Hunter is for when people start scaling. Inbound Shipments Easiest ones to do on own. Amazon in the last year has started cracking down on paperwork needed for inbound shipment reconciliation. The hard thing is Amazon starting to ask for paperwork for any level of discrepancy Manual invoices are a pain. You'll need a Stamped inbound Amazon proof of delivery - get from logistics provider. Ideally a scan of a piece of paper and proof At least an electronic version Even with just 1 item out of 2000 units, Amazon wants paperwork from manufacturer! Obviously, this is most valuable for bigger sellers to get off their plate, especially if they are doing several shipments a week. Refund Hunter will try to file on behalf of sellers. Customer Returns Another tough area because of
Seller initiated refunds
Simple thing is detecting when customer been refunded and not returned product Hard thing is to know whether Amazon initiated the refund or the customer
Sometimes the seller will refund things themselves
Amazon will say - you’re ineligible for a reimbursement
Some companies are aware of this and they also provide return labels to own warehouses NOT back to Amazon
For them, they already know what they are doing Other sellers do put everything through Amazon Especially higher volume folks
For FBA , Amazon is supposed to handle reimbursements. However, if customer contacts seller directly, seller often refunds them directly.
How to Sell your Ecommerce business for a $5M+ valuation What do you need to do if you are selling your ecommerce business worth over $5 million? Buyer types for $5M+ businesses Selling your ecommerce business for a higher valuation is in some ways actually easier than selling a smaller business. Certainly, there are more buyer types for higher-value businesses. Buyer groups - individuals who pool their money - informal Investor groups Family offices Wealthy family has generational wealth - instead of outside investment co, create internal office
Click below to estimate the value of your business Estimate your business value
Before you start selling your ecommerce business: Get very organised!
Financials Ideas and plans for growth Operational standpoint
What would right way to scale be? Supply chain etc.
Think through what buyer will want to know your opinion on
Common Q from Buyers “if you weren’t selling your ecommerce business and you wanted it to double in size, what would you do? This can be pretty deep
Acquiring new products Finance logistics Marketing
Timescale for preparing to sell your business If it’s within a few months: Not a lot you can do to change your business that will have a big impact 6-12 months out Understanding what market will want - and get it done Eg you have a brand on Amazon, get the trademarks secured Start expansion process Eg sell a lot of kitchen products under brand -
3 new products
find a source for them Put them into motion
Global Wired Advisors can help buyers dig into the process If you are selling your ecommerce business for higher values, you want to move buyers to thinking beyond just multiples. Global Wired Advisors help buyers strategise around this. What does that look like?
Wholesale Off amazon
Other marketplaces Sell on website
International
Global wired does a free consultation Get seller to start thinking about what does it Do ecommerce business owners have to be based in USA to sell their businesses? No it’s a very international market - because of how Amazon works and technology. There are owners based all over the world. They may live in Spain and sell in USA or vice versa. Selling businesses across the globe is actually quite easy. There are a lot of international buyers for US businesses and vice versa Recent trend: successful amazon sellers are very focussed on non US markets, because the US market for amazon is so saturated and competitive. Most successful sellers are in multiple countries. What do you need to think when selling your ecommerce business worth over $10 Million? Private Equity Similar to smaller businesses but it’s amplified. The buyers know exactly what they want and don’t want. More money is at risk. The right Buyer for your business starts to come in a more specific fit. Eg PE group that really loves beauty products A great business but which doesn’t do beauty won’t sell to them. Businesses fall into buckets and it’s about a right fit between your ecommerce business and the acquiring company. If someone’s going to pay $20m even though cashflow is in place
even more organised Tightly managed supply chain Brand protected
Having a team helps to sell your business Having actual employees and infrastrcurtue is more important How do multiples relate to size? In general: Larger businesses tend to sell for larger multiples For various reasons Right now (Nov 2018), larger businesses selling quicker than smaller businesses.
Larger interest from pro Inv groups in amazon than two years ago Many more smaller businesses are coming to market - more than 1.5-2 years ago
In reality each business will be different - valuation is based on individual attributes Larger businesses go for as much as 5X cashflow/EBITDA Whereas $500k-1m more like 3X cashflow
Selling your Amazon business with Chris and Jason of Providium Chris Shipferling & Jason Somerville of Global Wired Advisors/Providium Why sell your Amazon business? Is this really the main option for most people long-term? Selling your Amazon online business is always something you need to consider. Of course, tt’s an option to hang onto your business. Sadly, the data says you’re very unlikely to pass this to your kids. For nearly every person who owns business could make more money by selling it. So you need to have an exit in mind. Most people hit a point where they need more capital to grow the business. Most entrepreneurs like solving the puzzle - then they get bored! That could be the time to sell your Amazon business
Click below to estimate the value of your business Estimate your business value What matters when selling your Amazon business? Business mindset There is no downside to building a business as an attractive asset. If you are preparing to sell your Amazon business, it will benefit you as an owner. Owner operator or small business… There is a natural creative /destructive cycle. It's very difficult to innovate and grow and be at front of the market for years. If you hold on too long, the business may well plateau or even take a step back.That's a good reason to sell your business before that happens. Background of our guests in buying and selling businesses Chris’s background: Manufacturing 2003-2013 Sold a lot of buggies - worked for a Japanese company Ran sales and marketing. Then worked in sales and did some product development Then ran subset of Barcelona company for 4 years. One focus was direct to consumer - own own website What are the best activities - playground to learn great Got $500K product stuck in warehouse - no retailer wanted it. Brother- in-law was seller central wizard. Spent months- webinars, white papers and learned SC inside out. They ran out of cash so that hurt! Started own consulting firm. Lots of contacts in baby space; also amazon and vendor central. Chris has helped people move from Seller Central to Vendor Central. He speaks the “vernacular” of Amazon. Chris’s Role in Global Wired Advisors
Biz dev. - this online world is new to his partners. Conveyor belt on selling digitally native and amazon businesses
He goes under the hood. Love to “King Kong”
Massive disparity - what you big up vs. Seller central What’s going on? His background in sales and marketing - what would a potential business buyer look for?
6 million dollar business - only on amazon, no email marketing, no social, no other marketers To potential buyer in OM: look at what he’s achieved just by great product. Based on forecast can take $6m and double in one year by focussing on other things.
Wholesale Go international on amazon - uk, Japan, china
Partners build the financial model. Jason’s background In Investment banking 20 years Worked for bank of America capital markets group Hedge fund in Miami - wide variety of things A few years pure entrepreneur - started and and purchased businesses and exited those Background of Global Wired Advisors (from Chris) Wall Street guys One ran trading desk at Wells Fargo One went out and acquired businesses 60,000 contacts in Private Equity, investment banking Then met 2 other partners - similar backgrounds - Felt smaller business world was missing high quality expertise and help in selling companies Could fill void in the market. Owner operated and family owned businesses Started providium group 2 years ago GWA - Global Wired Advisors - started within the last year as a subsidiary of Providium. Focused on online businesses, aka "Digitally Native Businesses". Focussed on amazon particularly. Different forms of capital raising for Amazon businesses There are Mergers and acquisitions if the whole business is involved. Acquisition is if one company buys another entir...
Outsource for e-Commerce Personal assistant (in person)vs. Virtual assistant when you outsource ecommerce Where you outsource for e-commerce depends on where you’re based! And Depends on your situation. Outsource to someone part-time to start - depending on your profit level. If based in UK, USA, when you outsource for e-commerce, you need to consider:
Local (can connect virtually) Virtually you can hire amazing people
Book keeping can all be done virtually Outsource for e-commerce vs. Inhouse? Having a company that can scale with you is important If work with one person, and business trebles, that’s easier. Eg book keeping You just need delivery of specific reports, on time each month, accurate To outsource e-commerce, a clear outcome is critical Having a clear outcome is critical. And clearly explained is critical. Monthly strategic call - what do they see in the numbers. What to do with the time you gain when you learn how to outsource:
Product creation/Launch
Min. $10K/mo per launch - $3k net/mo =36kpa
New Amazon marketplaces
International expansion
Building a brand
Getting off Amazon - don’t have all the eggs in that basket Messenger bot Building a database of customers
It’s so important now to build an audience round a product line that makes a meaningful difference It helps determine the multiple If amazon only source of revenue lowers multiple if selling business Clear systems in place - how to do the task Having assets away What Aaron offers? Next steps? Free training in how to create a Product Launch Machine amazingfba.com/blueprint One of the biggest systems to set up is launching a new product. This is to set up a well oiled launch machine Come up with ideas, oversee and coach but not do all the steps yourself.
If you want to Contact Aaron to see how he can help you outsource e-commerce: https://systemscultureimpact.com/contact/
Can book in a call Some people remove 40 hours a week from plate What do they spend that time on now?
For high 6-7 figure e-commerce sellers, what they do with time saved by outsourcing: Already have SOPs - hand them a filing cabinet Personalise SOPs to their biz Run it for them for 3 to 12 months So can keep scaling the biz. Plug an operations dep.t Don’t have to hire, onboard, train Have backup VAs if it’s not working out. Take care of whole thing. To contact Aaron O' Sullivan to explore getting help, use this link: https://systemscultureimpact.com/contact/ For further info interviews with Michael, click here TRANSCRIPT
Michael Veazey 0:04 Welcome to the 10 k collective podcast. Listen, if you want hacks, my friend, I'm afraid you're in the wrong place. Our philosophy has grown out of the 10 k collective London mastermind members, by the way, make between half a million and several million dollars a year in e commerce based on many have doubled revenue in the last 12 to 18 months. If you're that kind of person, this podcast is made view. We're not puritanical. We use hacks, we just don't think you should focus on them. If you're building a real business, instead, we focus on what's been proven to work in the real brand building, clear strategic objectives, courageous long term goals and long range thinking, if you like that focus, keep listening. Welcome, take a collective
I think my experience with people to get very excited belted in and exasperated about vas and stuff is that they are unclear in there. And I've done I've been this person, probably still am in something we all have. Yeah, I mean, examples of where outsources work while my podcast editor for example, example was not work so well, I've got a bookkeeper who's who's really intelligent guy, probably too intelligent indian guy who tend to be high precise. That's another cultural differences, things negotiate right there, the podcasters Americans, he's used to me kind of throwing stuff at him.
In this episode, I talk with Aaron O’Sullivan of Systems Culture Impact, in part one of a two-part series.
Aaron starting selling private label products on Amazon in 2013. He was growing quickly, but in 2014 the brand started to plateau and then took a dive. He realized that he needed systems and teams in order to continue to grow, and so he began outsourcing. Finding the right people to add to your team can free you up to take your Amazon business to the next level. We discuss why outsourcing is so valuable and the steps on how to expand your team the right way. Topics in the episode
Benefits of outsourcing, and how that is reflected in your profits How to start the process of outsourcing:
Start by hiring processes out to contractors Then develop a team that is full time for you
Types of tasks that should be outsourced:
Customer service is the first thing that comes to mind. Start small, and ramp up to tasks with more responsibility
Outsourcing doesn’t have to only pertain to business tasks. It can also be beneficial to outsource home and daily task. Services for daily tasks and outsourcing:
Zipjet (https://www.zipjet.co.uk/) TaskRabbit (https://www.taskrabbit.com/) Magic (https://getmagic.com/) Airtasker (https://www.airtasker.com/)
The critical step of time tracking:
Will help you see the tasks you should outsource. Will also help clarify the role and desired outcomes of the person you hire https://toggl.com
Value vs Cost of Outsourcing. Tactics of hiring:
Clarity Scorecard Job Posting Questions within the Application One and done tasks
Hiring Process, which should result in 2-3 candidates:
Job posting Personality and aptitude tests (Criteria Corp.: https://www.criteriacorp.com/) 15-minute interview 1 hour tandem interview (with 2-3 team members)
Transcript Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show the is Michael Veazey of the tank, a collective and I'm going to be delighted to welcome Aaron O'Sullivan of systems culture impact to the show, Aaron deals with outsourcing, which is a very important thing for people wanting to go from a certain level where you still got stuck. And you can even find your revenue going backwards if you're focusing on the wrong things. And at that point, you definitely need to be thinking about outsourcing. So Aaron, welcome to the show. Very important topic.
Aaron O'Sullivan 1:23 Hey, Michael, thanks so much for having me on board. Really excited about today's session
Michael Veazey 1:26 there. And my pleasure, good to have you back. And it's an important topic, as we said, For for people who are and got the growing pains, and they can actually become a real barrier. So tell us a little bit about yourself, first of all, your background personally, or as an Amazon seller as well.
Aaron O'Sullivan 1:40 Absolutely. So um, I started in 2013, selling our own brands, private label brands, on Amazon, and things that were really good. And, you know, I was like a kid in a candy shop, started launching new products and open up new marketplaces. And, you know, went a bit crazy in 2014, because I had so much on my plate. Now the brand started taking a bit of a plateau and then a bit of a dive. And I was freaking out, I kind of didn't know what to do. You know, it took me a while to kind of join the dots, but you need systems and you need team in place for you to continue to grow. And that really came to me that insight came to me through working with some large teams and help them build large teams in the Philippines. You know, it's my job to build all the systems and processes and in kind of nurturing a team culture to drive forward now 10 or so brands. So that was how I got my kind of start in systems and team and, and implementing them to get things off people's plates. Yeah, we just been working with seven-figure sellers,
Amazon Seller Term Loans Term loans for Amazon sellers can be a great way to increase business growth and help avoid the dreaded Out Of Stock moments that come from a shortage of cash!
Terms of loans: 12 months up to 60 months
Varying APRs Term loans for Amazon sellers - the Fintech platform At a cost of $100Ks, Platinum Financing created a Fintech platform
The key is that you can make a “Soft enquiry” with a lender for a term loan as an Amazon seller, which doesn’t show on credit file. This is critical - if you just apply for 25 loans formally, you’ll destroy your credit rating!
Platinum’s software makes a soft enquiry with 25 lenders. They ask 11 Qs; and within 30 seconds, can get multiple, potential, (soft) approvals.
If you’re sitting on the fence, you have nothing to lose
Costs nothing No risk to your credit score If you like what you see, you can go ahead; otherwise, you can leave it with no bad effect.
What other kinds of credit can you get entrepreneurs? Investors Investors can pick up equity or have collateral that can be pledged.
That’s unusual unless you have collateral, eg property Retirement - BDRA Many companies offer an IRA or a 401K
If individuals have those, there is a special programme that allows them - if it’s “Rollable” (moveable from employer to employer)
BDRA - have 100% access to those funds for any business purpose
Normally if using from one fund to another, highly restricted
Eg real estate Etc Can’t use for Amazon, eBay
People love it!
Another issue: if you have an IRA or 401K, if you cash it out and not Rollable
10% penalty of all the funds in there
Say $200K - $20K immediate hit
Plus in the year you take it out, you get income tax bill!
Neither is the case with BDRA.
It becomes deferred income until the individual is 70 ½ years old! Contact details for Bruce Mack bruce@platinumfinancinggroup.com
Tel.: (720) 371-2345
Times: West Coast (CA), generally gets into office 9 am. Call 9 am-7 PM Pacific time. Or text.
Transcript So you talked about revolving credit, do you have other forms of credit that you would educate people and or help people get all that people can generally go for?
Bruce Mack 1:04 There are two that I think are important to the FBA sellers that are on this call, one of which is our term loan program. And the term loan program is unusual in as much as we have a platform where we have 25 lenders on that platform.
Now imagine, if you will, if you went to 25 lenders, individually, what would happen, where your credit would be destroyed. And the reason is, is you would have 25 inquiries on your FICO, which, of course is going to really hurt your score and have a dramatic negative effect, if other people see that you are have applied for that much credit with different lenders.
So what we've done is we've consolidated and put all these lenders into one place. And with one inquiry, actually, with no inquiries with a soft inquiry, which means it does not show up on your report. With one soft inquiry. We go out and spider out to these lenders. And we get within a 30 to 45 second period of time, where we either get no offers, or we get offers.
And we get multiple offers from one lender. And oftentimes, we get multiple offers from multiple lenders, the APR is here started 4.9% go up accordingly. From there, depending on the individuals credit, we would like to see that they are employed, and that they do have a provable income, either w two income or 1099 income. And that money's flowing into their personal banking bank account.
Again, our consultants go through all this with with the individual. But the beauty is there are no hard inquiries, unless you see alone, it's on the platform or multiple loans that are on the platform, and you want to go forward at that time prior to when you go into the final underwriting stages before they they send you the money and put it in...
Business Credit for Small business Amazon sellers This show is focused on those who already have revenue, and know how to do the basics and want to grow and are ambitious. And one of the things you need to do is money because this is an inventory based business. And that means it's capital intensive. Business credit for small business can be a solution to this.
There have been many, many discussions at the 10 k collective mastermind around the question: "How do I get more money to fund my business?” What is Platinum Financing? The man to answer that question is Bruce Mack of Platinum financing Group, a financial consulting company that primarily funds clients. Bruce has a huge background in finance: He is a financial advisor, a speaker, a trainer. He was even a banker in his past life, so incredibly qualified to talk on this subject.
Bruce has Worked with a number of small business owners in the FBA space to get them business credit, including the first FBA seller to have $1-million day on amazon.
He is also a passionate skiier and was a ski instructor, which is one of his motivations in business.
UK based small business owners with LLCs - can they get corporate credit?
Yes, they can get domestic (US) funding regardless of where they are in the world - up to $50K in Domestic (US) business credit.
They would need to file for EIN number. Then consultants can work with them on small lines of credit
Then using credit cards up to $25,000.
For USA based people
$200K Credit is easily achieved.
They have Revolving lines of credit up to $75-200K
They can stack those and often get up to another $100K Other business credit programmes if a business owner and have track record What are the forms of business credit that one can get as a small business owner?
Revolving lines of credit programme
Additional credit cards
Mix of business and consumer cards
At zero% APR for up to 21 months.
Licensed financial advisor - worked with MasterCard and Visa
If you want just one credit card, you don’t need Bruce or Platinum Financing.
But if you need 8-12 cards, you need him. Making multiple enquiries at same time, whole thing will implode. There’s an order and logic to flow, otherwise you’ll get declined 100% of the time - and probably damage your credit rating in the meantime.
There is no term to pay it back. Monthly minimums for years (revolving) Contact details for Bruce Mack bruce@platinumfinancinggroup.com
Tel.: (720) 371-2345
Times: West Coast (CA), generally gets into office 9 am. Call 9 am-7 PM Pacific time. Or text.
Transcript Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show. This is your host, Michael Veazey, with more wonderful knowledge for advanced or at least the moving Amazon sellers. This show is focused on those who already have revenue, and know how to do the basics and want to grow and are ambitious. One of the things you need to do that is money or funding, because this is an inventory based business. And that means it's capital intensive.
There have been many, many discussions that I've had at the 10 k collective mastermind, where one of the major topics is how do I get more money to fund my business.
So the man to deal with that is Bruce Mack of Platinum financing Group, a financial consulting company that primarily funds clients. Bruce has a huge background in finance: He is a financial advisor, a speaker, a trainer. He was even a banker in his past life, so incredibly qualified to talk on this subject. So Bruce, warm, warm, welcome to the show.
Bruce Mack 1:46 Thanks so much, Michael. I really appreciate being invited to your show and look forward to chatting with all the folks that are on the podcast and what have you and give them some great information that they can take to the bank. Pardon the pun.
Michael Veazey 2:02 Idea bad puns already. It's that kind of show.
Unknown Speaker 2:05 Yeah, it's good. I like it. So Bruce, tell
Protecting The Product Design The role of Patents in protecting your product design Protecting your Product Design doesn't necessarily start with patent protections. One key is to minimise the chance of your supplier selling your product to other retailers. Ryan's team works hard on the selection of and relationship with suppliers to ensure that their factories don't do that. If you have your own Mold, nobody else will use that, so that creates a lot of protection against getting copycat versions of your product out there. How to Protect your Product Design by Keeping a very close relationship with your main suppliers The key is a a very, very close relationship with middle supplier is that we consider Ryan considers them part of his company and his mother calls the boss her Chinese son. Keeping the molds locked away is also part of protection against being copied. They have for example a very specific set of patterns for a client, which are in locked tubes for when they are needed. How about the “no” vs. Honesty thing? Mostly suppliers will tell you they can do something when in reality they can do ⅔ of what you want. Pin down the suppliers - make them repeat things in contracts and in writing. To be sure they can hit your specifications - put in testing! Solution:1 Sample sample sample! Core QC point - make sure the supplier don't mass produce a product until you’ve approved the sample! Chinese mentality of “cha abs dour”-'close enough' - is the biggest enemy. Quality control and protecting your product's quality Traditionally been so cheap to make stuff that the mentality is that it's cheaper and faster to make an approximate version initially. Then they will try to get the samples approved by the buyer. And if they have to, just redo it. QC - not just Pre-Shipment Inspection Process - Say do a tent, custom plastic:
Send client fabric strips Make prototype with factory Then if think understand what client was after and custom weave hundreds of rolls
Be part of the process - sometimes prototype throws up new issues, eg, Didn’t think about how thick the fabric would need to be. Where are you at in the process? Prototype Sample Order process Production sample There is always a tension there Eg need tent in very specific colour etc. minimum to weave or dye a fabric - $1000s How approx do you need your prototype to be? Ryan has even been developing a product with his daughter! What sort of Custom Manufacturing service do you offer at XQ? Our service advantages help navigate some of the challenges associated with custom manufacturing: Protecting your Product Design 1- We do not sell privately developed products to other parties like many China based factories. Do you deal with freight? Usually to ship the smallest thing ocean you will pay over $700 due to the 1 time costs of import export, but we take on all these fees as part of the total container cost. 2 - we have monthly consolidated ocean containers that allow give our clients low shipping cost options to our US warehouse. 3 - We have a US company that acts as the importer so thus our US clients can pay our US company and not have to deal with international transfers, customs importing, shipping logistics, etc. We can ship all the way to FBA for our clients. 4- We are familiar with duty rates and import restrictions and can advise on all this or for our clients who wish we can quote them with all duties considered including new Trump Tarriffs so they do not have to worry about that. We are also familiar with things like Children's Product safety Testing requirements and can navigate all that for our clients. 5 - as a US run company in China it allows us to have superior communication compared to other Chinese factories and better understand our client's needs. Contact details Xqmanufacturing.com rs@Xqmanufacturing.com
Transcript Protecting your Product Design
Custom manufacturing for Amazon
Ryan Shaffett's Custom manufacturing Background Ryan been living in China for 18 years - running biz there for 12 years. Started as a traditional manufacturer. XQ has a handful of clients - medium sized US companies, sporting goods industries. They’ve seen the trend towards FBA. Is Custom Manufacturing something that FBA Businesses are doing more of? XQ have one key client fully FBA based business. But they are increasingly tweak services to meet FBA clients Most clients go from Private Label to custom manufacturing. What brings clients to you? The best clients have good people who communicate well. It can be very complicated to work with a Chinese factory to develop own products. Ryan tries to save a lot of hassle. They can reduce own staff in own country. What are the key distinctions between Custom Manufacturing for Amazon and Private Label? Advantages of Custom Manufacturing for Amazon
Truly unique As opposed to Private Label -which can be an exercise in “who can push the most product?” Higher profit Know niche read clients feedback How it needs tweaking Dealing with PL manufacturers You are the mould owner - If you develop a product - I’m going to charge the client for development costs. Different price structure
Summaries of Pros and cons of Custom Manufacturing The advantages to a privately developed product are: 1 - It is very hard to hijack/copycat 2- Often margins are much higher with privately developed products. 3 - You can tweak it with all the features you know the market wants. What are the main downsides? Disadvantages: 1- Minimums tend to be higher, like investing at least $2,000 or more on an order. Large plastic molds can cost up to $10,000 and more. 2 - You have to wait between 1-4 months to get your product in hand. Downsides of custom manufacturing for Amazon Time
Prototyping Mold development is time consuming (could take a month) Typical turnaround 1-2 weeks china Every project different 1-4 months or longer if multiple prototypes
Money Plast ic inc molding costs $1K-10K No top end It's a Barrier for small FBA sellers How many units Small key shared objects can be tricky. You Can’t try out the market
It’s an upfront commitment You might try a single cavity mould Then develop a twenty piece mould If product bigger than a breadbox everything is a one cavity mould Manufacture costs
Different manufacturing techniques Some clients are already very expert - detailed CAD drawings etc. Also work with clients who have hand sketched drawings and a concept XQ manufacturing will have a conversation Multi material products These are great but A bit more complex Basic types of multi material products include some basic electronics sometimes That's where the initial investment goes into developing the printed circuit board design. Wood Wood based products - fairly easy A lot of plastic and rubber products are also quite straight forward. Extrusion - tube, board etc. - is often used. They have lower costs than plastic injection moulding. Metal Machining is used for metalwork (but also for plastic). Machined metal is often huge - for large components, Casting is also common. Forging and bending are other common techniques. Textiles Textiles - have own in house general assembly and own textile factory usually. This would apply to, for example, Bags and tents. Foam Foam - pouring foam - is used in for example animal shapes, and targets It expands and has a lot of elasticity It heals well too. Typically high volume but lowest cost per item. Money and time implications of different materials Wooden product exports from china - need to hit basic minimums. Wood inspections adds $200 of inspection fees Plastics are v cheap to mass produce once the mold is made. Metal Machining = each piece takes same time on machine. That can be more per piece costs
Vision and Goals for e-commerce
It’s got to be lead by aspiration/vision and goals The aspiration was to be an employer of choice - this is a big aspiration for a small business.
It sets a mindset - it’s not just about people as a resource to get a task done.
If you can get them to operate within operating principles, that will be fantastic.
But you need to live it, not just things on a powerpoint.
What are your goals for the next year? 3 years? And what is the time frame you plan in? Financial planning has been really good and they now have effective systems for this.
Now generating organic traffic is a big active goal: using social media and publishing own content.
The vision is about securing the current brand and having sustainable sales.
Partly to avoid having Amazon pull the rug on them.
Partly driven by the cost of Amazon sales including commission versus Off-Amazon goals One goal is to get 1 million visitors to the brand website per year.
It sounds massive but it’s quite attainable when you run the numbers.
At the moment, Ashley has set out goals for the next year for revenue.
But the vision of really growing into an organic traffic magnet is big.
3-5 year planning is still in the works.
The team is going through a planning phase now - by mid June there will be more of a 3-5 year vision. Richard Koch: Star Principle Ashley’s personal vision is driven by the Star principle.
The growth rate of 50-80% makes it a star business.
That puts the revenue at about $10 million dollars in 5 years!
In another 5 years, that would be at $65 million!
The goal is to be brand that never dies!
A question Ashley loves is: “Where do you want to be in 100 years’ time?”
How does the Star Principle work in your business? Ashley read the book then realised they were doing quite a lot of the right things.
The growth rate of e-commerce makes this possible for a business.
You’ll never have no competitors nipping at your heels.
So going out of stock can lead to losing a dominant position in the market.
They’ve also admitted in some areas that they don’t have star products. As long as they are cash cows, that’s all good as that funds the star products.
What’s your view of keeping on product lines that aren’t “stars” or cash cows? True, having products in the household gets the name out there.
Sometimes, “dog” products lead on to “star products”.
You can’t really do it based on Amazon data.
From the logistics perspective, the overhead management of making sure you minimise cost of container logistics is a fine balance. By now, they are filling containers with no problem so they can be more critical of what they put into containers.
There can be loss leader products that allow you to upsell or cross-sell other products.
It’s harder to do on Amazon. Also, it’s hard to conceive of completely stepping away from Amazon. Organic traffic: If an average e-commerce store could convert average 3% - they did 30,000 conversions last year on Amazon. To achieve that, they would need 1 million visitors!
If growing sales 50-80% on Amazon, it’s hard to achieve
There are lots of people selling Chatbots , FaceBook ads etc. If you want 1 million visitors with ads, that could cost you $300-400,000! That could theoretically generate $1 million worth of sales. The concept of “Profitable variation” (from Richard Koch’s “The Star Principle”) They realised this was what they were doing with their product.
You need to either sell at same price as competition at lower cost so higher profits; or sell at a higher price (premium pricing) for higher profits.
Premium positioning on Amazon The sellers going after FaceBook ads at $350 a year to drive $1 million in sales, their costs are very high.
But Ashley believes he can get costs down to $30-60,000 cost for 1 million visitors a year.
Plus there is cumulative benefit.
How does Cashflow projection tie in with sales/stock prediction? At a simple level: the sales velocity you’re managing to will deliver a revenue a month.
That is then shared between your business and Amazon, and you’re left with those cash surpluses every two weeks.
Meanwhile you either have stock on order, on the water or in Amazon.
So at any one time, you’ve got capital tied up in product or in money in the bank. Cashflow example Say you’re aiming to sell 500 units per month of something and trying to manage that over 3 months (placing orders every 3 months) - so you’re replenishing at a rate where you know you’ll have the cash in the bank to pay.
That only happens if you’re importing in the same amount of stock as you sell - 3 months of stock in container; 3 months’s sales. That’s where stock prediction ties in with Cashflow projection.
This does require some complex modelling.
If you import 3 months’ worth of stock and it’s not sold through yet when new stock turns up, you’ll have a cashflow bottleneck. Think in terms of liquid cash Think in terms of cash locked up vs. Liquid cash.
Ask yourself the question: how many times are you going to turn your stock this year? (Again, the stock prediction piece)
Ashley’s company’s target is 4 months a year (3 months’ stock plus a bit of overstock)
Buffer stock is not liquid! Inventory Perform Index - what is it and how does it affect the discussion? Introduced about 12 months ago (mid May 2018) in the USA by Amazon to manage the velocity of stock turnover. The main metric in the IPI turns out to one of the more important metrics, especially if you’re storing a lot of products at FBA: the sell-through rate.
This means that stock prediction is more important than ever. Sell-through Rate (IPI) If you sold all of your stock in 12 months, that would be a “sell-through rate of 1”.
The formula is:
Sell-through rate= stock you sell ÷ stock you have.
If you put 3 months’ stock in amazon and sold through in 3 months, that’s a sell-through-rate of 1.
That’s the lowest acceptable performance in Ashley’s case. If you can turn stock 4 times a year, you’re doing very well. If your sell through rate drops really low plus storing quite a volume of product, that can impose limitations on the amount of stock you can store at Amazon.
The magic number is “350” on the IPI. Anything over the limit is charged at 10 times the normal rate. They have a forward forecast of what IPI would be every month - this shows what you can keep at Amazon and what is externally stored. Building an e-commerce Team At what point do you start expanding an e-commerce team? The simple answer is when you run out of capacity!
However Ashley felt that there was a need to start building an e-commerce team early.
The freedom to make those decisions was based around accurate cashflow and sales projections.
The questions were: Can we afford to take a team on? At what point?
What tasks will my e-commerce team need? What skill sets needed? Ecommerce Marketing Team Structure How do you justify that financially? In Nov/Dec 2018 the e-commerce team structure looked like this:
Ashley - ran Amazon
Ole - marketing assistant (UK based works alongside Ashley) - was managing all off-Amazon things - website, social media etc.
They used a VA (Virtual Assistant = remote assistant) at one point for social media.
On Nov 21 Ashley had his first child! (Rosalie) - so got busier/needed people. More key questions to ask before building your team: What do we want to achieve?
How much can we afford?
They had discussions with Sadie, project manager, expert at hiring.
She helped draft role outlines and hired people in the Philippines. "Building a Team" not "hiring VAs" Ashley's approach is to hire “team members” not “virtual assistants”
Their saying in ads is “we hire for life!”
It comes down to understanding budget and your aspirations.
How Ashley Pearce made his first Million on Amazon? What better way to kick off the $10k Collective podcast than by interviewing an incredibly successful member of the mastermind? In this episode, you will learn how to make $1 million a year on Amazon, or rather how Ashley made his success. Quick Background Engineering background Launched 2016
Improved in 2017
Has a part-time job that has parallels with Amazon business building
2018: $750K revenue which was predicted in May 2018
Ashley has made an appearance on the Amazing FBA podcast. You can find those episodes at https://amazingfba.com/ashley-pearce/. Results
Growth since start currently
$750K for 2018 calendar year
Growth since May 2018 $370K 2017 56% growth year on year Plan this year 85% uplift!
At the time of the last podcast, launching into Europe. How have results been?
Didn’t take as seriously as should have - OOS Launched in the UK And Germany and France Not taken as seriously as should have Used EFN from Amazon which has hamstrung them -missing out on Pan EU benefits Rectifying at the moment, VAT registration, etc. Also into Spain and Italy - slowly taking on Europe
The reason why he took his eye off the ball in Europe was because amazon.com in the USA has demanded cash and energy.
We all have limitations resources, cash, mindset. Ashley has tried to work within his cash and energy limitations. What’s your view on expanding on two fronts at once? You need to have the capacity to manage across the marketplaces. eg. Managing hijackers across
Even 10 products - across multiple marketplaces
There are tools that provide alerts but then you have to resolve each issue.
Also, Amazon changes fulfilment fees. e.g. $2, not $4
One management overhead for amazon.com
Europe you have to manage 5 marketplaces - some people don’t have the capacity to resolve it
You need to 80/20 and double down. At some point, you need to scale. Someone hired someone to hire someone to manage a brand on Amazon.
You need a presence in all the marketplaces Scaling - could be new marketplaces. Also new SKUs or higher sales per SKU How many product lines do you have (SKUs)? 6 MSKUs [separate product lines]plus variations - about 15 variations last year
Launching one product a quarter this year is the plan - new MSKU or a variation. What’s your reasoning behind that choice? To a degree, Ashley’s company has fallen into this. To some extent, it’s about financial restraints.
Towards the end of last year, they calculated that they could launch one product a quarter.
It’s about cash flow. True cost of going Out of Stock It’s hard to have peaks and troughs - it’s so expensive going out of stock. Firstly, you lose ground to existing competition. Secondly, other Private labellers copy you.
Ashley has focussed on not biting off more than they can chew.
They had a profitable product back in May 2018; prediction out of stock 6 weeks; turn into 10-12 weeks.
These days, this could cost you your business, not just some sales.
This is part of the changing nature of Amazon - in his most recent example, it took about 60 days to regain traction and consistent profit on 2 SKUs from going out of stock in February - that’s 60 days of heavy expenditure on PPC. If it had been any longer, they might not have ranked again at all. Why this happened That could be a change in algorithm on Amazon.
There’s also competition on Amazon.
12 months ago, differentiation was already critical. Nowadays, there are some more brand builders who take things as seriously as Ashley. So, his brand’s differentiation is not as strong as it was. So, you have to up your game again now. What about raising capital or debt to fund more expansion? Ashley has taken on personal debt to get the business to where it is today.
But he has imposed a limitation on utilising organic growth in the business.
Hi there and very warm welcome to the brand new 10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast. This is still linked to the site for our sister podcast, Amazing FBA, which we’ve been running for 3 ½ years now. The Amazing FBA podcast will still be published; it's just going to focus on the needs of pre-revenue entrepreneurs (those thinking about/planning for setting up an Amazon business) and early stages. That's not the focus of the 10K Collective e-commerce podcast. Another e-commerce podcast? Who is this for? Business directors doing 6, 7 and 8 figures a year in e-commerce. For now, we are very Amazon-centric (as is e-commerce as a whole these days!) However, we will be gradually bringing in more off-Amazon entrepreneurs and experts. These businesses are scaling fast and the directors are enjoying the ride. As an end goal, rather than creating “lifestyle” businesses, they are aiming to create valuable, defensible assets to s ell on, or to pass on to the next generation. Who is it our e-commerce podcast not for? Newbies... That is, those who are “pre-revenue” ie thinking of selling on amazon but not selling yet (our sister podcast, Amazing FBA is the place for you) “Laptop lifestyle” Believers A lot of e-commerce podcasts seem to preach living on a beach with a laptop. Holidays are fun and recovering from overwork is fantastic. I’m all in favour of travel and learning languages and cultures. And listen, I read the 4 hour workweek. But (as Tim Ferriss himself has admitted multiple times), the least good thing about that book was the title. Rather, I felt the value was in challenging assumptions and breaking lazy mental habits. Problem is: your competitors aren’t sleeping while you’re playing. You need to stay ahead of the game. Bigger problem: say you manage to just play on the beach all day. What meaning have you now got in your life? Tim Ferriss’s own 4 hour workweek lasted maybe 18 months to two years; then he was back in the games of marketing (writing books) and business (as an angel investor). And there is biggest issue. I believe - based on the evidence I’ve seen - that we all need a purpose. The aim isn’t to escape from the game but find a game you enjoy and are good at; and win at it! That’s the purpose of this e-commerce podcast. Those who are over-focused on “hacking” the Amazon algorithm. We’ll take hacks, but we don’t believe you can build a valuable, future-proof business by focussing on things that will change every few months. Your business needs to keep pace with the environment - and our e-commerce podcast will help you do that over the coming months & years. Where do you get your insights from? (what's your background?) This e-commerce podcast, the 10K Collective podcast, may be new but it’s built on a lot of my private experiences over the last 3 years or so. Obviously selling on Amazon myself has given me a real feel for the platform; what works and what doesn’t. Being a member of insider groups of (mostly UK) Amazon power sellers has given me some solid insights into what they do that works; as well as their less successful experiments. First and foremost though our podcast is based on the insights from over 20 months’ work with advanced, high-growth Amazon sellers who are scaling fast in the 10K Collective London masterminds. They consist of monthly or bi monthly in-depth, detailed, intensive debate. Now talk is cheap, but Members are fantastic at going back to their offices and implementing what they learn; whether that be just some little tactical wins like optimisation of listings, all the way to months-long experiments with say instagram influencers; SEO or advanced FaceBook group strategies, to name but three examples. The great thing is then the sharing back of what works and what doesn’t over the course sometimes of several months. This means we can track people’s journeys through their experiments. We can all learn critical lessons without all having to risk our capital ...