amazon growth

Establishing your brand is hard to do through channels like Google and Facebook, but Amazon offers an easier opportunity. Durk Price is a 3 decade veteran of ecommerce and digital marketing and the Founder & CEO of eAccountable. Durk reveals how to set your brand up for success on Amazon, what ROAS your should expect from your campaign, and whether you should start on Amazon or on your own website. 

Takeaways:

• So much of starting a direct-to-consumer brand online comes down to the brand. Many brands that struggle in other ecommerce channels have found great success when they began to sell on Amazon.
• It is very time and cost-intensive to build a brand through Google or social media and even once you’ve made your investment, the traffic will not be very high quality. However, Amazon offers high-quality traffic to brands at a fraction of the cost.
• High-quality traffic is traffic that converts at a high rate, which depends on your campaign’s lifetime. Early on it’s good to get a 1:1 ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), while mature campaigns should have 3:1 or 4:1 ROAS. 
• Starting a business on Amazon allows you to go to market faster than through other channels because you don’t have to worry about things like the ecommerce platform, shipping, customer service, etc.
• When you’re starting your company, it’s better to start on Amazon, but if you do want to have a website, you should have that website point back to Amazon. This way you only need to track inventory for one channel while also getting the other perks of FBA.
• When you drive external traffic to your Amazon listing or storefront, your listing will receive big benefits including an improved organic rating, lowered cost of paid traffic, and increased ROAS.
• You need to update your product descriptions on an ongoing basis because not only do consumer trends shift, but the way consumers search for products changes along with how Amazon serves up results.

Quote of the Show:

• “When you’ve got a Prime badge on everything, it’s a lot easier to sell” - Durk Price

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/durkprice/
• Email: durk@eaccountable.com
• Company website: https://www.eaccountable.com/

Shout Outs:

• Helium 10

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Amazon Legends is sponsored by Argometrix, the authority on, and leading supplier of, competitive intelligence for online retail. To learn more, head over to https://argometrix.com/ 

Amazon Legends is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/ 

Most people know about optimizing your title, bullets, and A-plus content to include keywords, but today’s guest knows how to find hidden keyword fields that can push your listing up the rankings. Nisan Bal is the Head of Amazon Advertising at Seller Interactive and has over a decade of experience in all aspects of E-commerce. Nisan shines a light on the challenges of selling on Amazon internationally, the additional ways to add important keywords to your listing, and how you need to track and use your KPIs from Amazon. 

Takeaways:

• Selling through Amazon in different international markets that happen to speak the same language is not as easy as copying and pasting the listing from one market to another. 
• For example, a listing for cookies in the US would need very different keywords than if you were selling the same product in the UK. While both markets are predominantly English-speaking, there are many differences between each market’s dialect. 
• Your backend search terms are extremely important for Amazon’s algorithm. While the customer will not see these terms, they are still indexed by Amazon and can make a big difference, even if you’ve already optimized the rest of your listing. 
• To access your backend search terms, start in Seller Central, go to your inventory page, and select Edit Listing. There you will find one field for keywords that allows up to 250 characters per listing. 
• When adding keywords, you don’t need to separate each term with commas, just a space is enough. For longtail keywords, you will need to hyphenate the terms. Mercifully, Amazon does not count those spaces against your 250-character limit. 
• If you aren’t filling out the 50 characters of space that you have for alt text on each image in your A-plus content, you are missing out on valuable real estate that could be helping your search rankings. You can use a space to separate these keywords as well.
• At a base level, you should be tracking your Amazon KPIs weekly and analyzing the trends in the data so that you can make informed decisions to grow your business. 

Quote of the Show:

• “Analyzing that trend, that's the most important thing. Just looking at it for the last 30 days, you can't make any judgment there unless you know, “Okay, where was I 30 days before that?”” - Nisan Bal

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nisanbal/
• Email: nisan@sellerinteractive.com
• Company website: https://sellerinteractive.com/
• Company website: https://linktr.ee/outgive

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Amazon Legends is sponsored by Argometrix, the authority on, and leading supplier of, competitive intelligence for online retail. Learn more 

Selling on Amazon from the start of a company’s launch provides unique perspectives because of the unique challenges and opportunities it comes with. Today we have two great guests, the first of which, Catherine Harpe Neal, is the Director of eCommerce at Parch Spirits Co and also runs a foster home for dogs. Along with Catherine, Ila Byrne is the Co-Founder of Parch and has some amazing experience from leading innovation at Diaggio. You’ll get some great advice on the process behind launching on Amazon, how to build out your brand story using Amazon, and what it takes to assemble a great team.

Takeaways:

• One of the most important aspects of building a lifestyle brand is educating consumers and much of that comes from working with partners in existing industries.
• Deciding to sell on Amazon is not just something you can do on the side of your business. It is a massive sales channel and adding that to your company requires you to adopt and implement an entirely new set of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Some of the SOPs you need to introduce to hit the ground running on Amazon include how you package orders, ASINs, and FBA and FBM decisions. 
• Amazon is putting massive amounts of effort into promoting all 3rd-party sellers to use their FBA fulfillment service.
• Even though you may use FBA, it’s imperative to have everything in place for FBM in case of an inventory or supply chain issue. 
• Although you might be using an agency to help with your Amazon operation, you also need someone internally that can own everything to do with Amazon.
• Building out your brand through Amazon means that you can reach customers across the US while also telling your brand story through the pages of Amazon that can match the brand world that you have created through all of your other channels.

Quotes of the Show:

• “Amazon has incentivized 3rd-part sellers enough to, in a positive way, force your hand to fulfill via FBA” - Catherine Harpe-Neil
• “You can’t really launch a brand, especially a CPG brand, without Amazon these days” - Ila Byrne

Links:

• Catherine Harpe-Neil LinkedIn
• Ila Byrne LinkedIn
• Parch Website
• Parch Instagram
• Parch Amazon Storefront

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Amazon Legends is sponsored by Argometrix, the authority on, and leading supplier of, competitive intelligence for online retail. To learn more, head over to https://argometrix.com/ 

There are so many smaller Amazon sellers out there that aren’t living up to the great potential they have. However, Ruben Alikhanyan, the founder of PAS Agency, is helping those sellers find success and build the value of their brand. You’ll learn all about what you need to have when creating an Amazon brand, how to properly use the Amazon Brand Registry, and what is holding your conversion rates back.

Takeaways: 

• Having the right creative content in place when you are initially building a brand on Amazon strengthens the conversion which makes the growth much faster.
• Some of the best categories for underperforming brands to find success in include kitchen appliances, kitchen, accessories, toys, and sports.
• An Amazon brand’s story plays a valuable role in both selling to customers as well as the valuation that the brand would receive from aggregators.
• If you aren’t looking at it strategically, you won’t find success on Amazon. Amazon wants sellers to create brands that will have longevity and will flourish.
• If you have identified the right keywords and still have a low conversion rate, the problem lies within your Product Details Page (PDP). On the PDP, if your SEO is strong and it’s being indexed, look to your graphics as the cause of the low conversion rate.
• Having a recent set of data from your Amazon brand is not enough. You need other, older sets of data to give you perspective on things like conversion rates, CTR, etc.
• The main reason that conversion is so important is that it impacts your bottom line, your top line, and how the Amazon algorithm treats your listing. 

Quote of the Show:

• “There has to be planning, strategy behind what your logo is. Your logo is going to be an extension of your brand” - Ruben Alikhanyan

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruben-alikhanyan-558b07199/ 
• Email: ruben.a@pasagency.com
• PAS Agency website: https://pasagency.com/ 
• ikoo website: https://ikoohair.com/ 

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Amazon Legends is sponsored by Argometrix, the authority on, and leading supplier of, competitive intelligence for online retail. To learn more, head over to https://argometrix.com/ 

Amazon Legends is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/ 

Today’s guest has walked many miles in the shoes of Amazon Sellers and has helped many others sellers along the way. Lesley Hensell has been a seller on Amazon for over a decade and is the Co-Founder of Riverbend Consulting. Lesley helps other Amazon Sellers who have been suspended get their accounts reinstated. You’ll hear how to approach writing your suspension, what Amazon is looking for in your Plan of Action, and how to escalate a problem within Amazon. 

Takeaways: 

• When your account is suspended you need to vent and blow off some steam so that your frustration does not show up in your appeal to Amazon. You need to be reasonable in your appeal if you actually want to get reinstated.
• When appealing your suspension, you need to find the root cause even if you don’t believe the customer complaint or other reason for the suspension. Finding the root cause means taking a very objective look at your business and repeatedly asking why.
• Amazon wants to see your Plan of Action (POA) in your appeal. The first step is to find the root cause and fix it. The second step is to show how you have addressed those which you have “wronged”. The third step is to show how it will never happen again.
• Amazon loves to see SMART goals, dates, and lots of details in the third step of your POA. It shows them how seriously you’re taking this process. 
• The Amazon Seller Performance investigators handle 20 cases per hour, which means they are only spending about three minutes looking at your appeal. Because of this, you need to put all of the pertinent information up top and keep it concise.
• Make sure to have someone else read your appeal to give an outside perspective and reexamine the root cause and the plan to fix it. 
• To escalate your suspension appeal, you can get it to the Executive Seller Relations team by emailing jeff@amazon.com with the primary email for your Amazon login. Make sure the subject line is compelling and include your token number in the first paragraph. 

Quote of the Show:

• “If you get down and upset, you're not going to solve anything” - Lesley Hensell

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Riverbend Consulting website
• Riverbend Consulting Phone: 877-289-1017
• Project Retail website

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Amazon Legends is sponsored by Argometrix, the authority on, and leading supplier of, competitive intelligence for online retail. Learn more here. 

Amazon Legends is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more here.

Because of the limitations placed on the global supply chains by the pandemic, Just In Time inventory is no longer viable for many businesses. In light of this, businesses must get more people from more countries involved in sourcing their inventory. Scott Welker-Reyes is the VP of Operations & Administration at Fermob USA and has tons of experience in eCommerce and sourcing inventory from around the world. You’ll hear about how to find international sourcing partners, what to consider when placing your next order, and why your business should choose FBA or FBM.

Takeaways:

• There are ambassadors from other countries that work in the US whose job is to help businesses find sourcing partners in their home countries. These can be a great resource for discovering alternative suppliers.
• If your product requires multiple pieces of different materials, once you find a manufacturer for one of the parts, they likely already know other manufacturers who can make the rest of the parts.
• As a result of the supply chain issues over the past few years, businesses need to hedge their bets and order over and above what they would normally use. Most forecasting models have been made useless from the recent shortages.
• The biggest cause of increases in domestic prices for both companies and consumers is the pierce of ocean freight. Trans-pacific freight costs have risen up to 500% and that is if the cargo can even get loaded on a ship.
• Amazon has created an expectation for consumers that if they order something today, they should have it tomorrow. This is not the case with large items like furniture and wholesale distributors have struggled because of it.
• For furniture brands, the choice to use FBA needs to be carefully considered because of the shipping costs incurred by the seller and the higher risk of items being damaged during shipping due to undertrained and overburdened staff. 
• If you have a large offering of products that also come in many different colors, consider paring those options down when selling on Amazon and only offering 6 colors instead of 24.

Quote of the Show:

• “At this point in time, Just In Time, inventory just doesn't work any longer” - Scott Welker-Reyes

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-welker-reyes/ 
• Personal Website: https://scottwelkerreyes.com/ 
• Company website: https://www.fermobusa.com/ 

Shout Outs:

• USPS

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Amazon has evolved so much and brands that started as vendors are seeing the benefits of transitioning to sellers. Craig Leslie is the VP & Director of Ecommerce at San Diego Coffee, Tea, & Spice and the Co-Founder & Director Of Ecommerce at LonoLife. Craig breaks down the differences between Vendor Central and Seller Central, why Brand Registry is so crucial, and how to capitalize on your buy box. 

Takeaways: 

• While Vendor Central allows you to update some content for your listings, Seller Central offers much greater control of both the content and the pricing. Conversely, on Vendor Central, Amazon can set the price to fit whatever their goals are.
• To make changes on Vendor Central, the brand is reliant on Amazon to make the changes and then review them through their slow-moving process. 
• As a seller, you can split up your products to have some sold through Vendor Central and others through Seller Central. The key to any brand looking to sell on Amazon is to register on Brand Registry, this will protect your brand and your buy box.
• When you are selling on Vendor Central, you are selling products to Amazon at a wholesale price. Whereas with Seller Central, you are selling products at retail price through Amazon.
• Your Seller Feedback Rating is critical for optimizing the buy box.  Overlooking this can hurt your conversion rate. Sellers have 60 days to challenge feedback and request that it be removed.

Quote of the Show:

• “Amazon has trained their customers to want product in 24 to 48 hours” - Craig Leslie

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Email: craig@craigleslie.com
• Twitter
• San Diego Coffee Co. website
• San Diego Coffee Co. Amazon Storefront
• Lonolife website
• LonoLife Amazon Storefront

Shout Outs:

• Greg Elfrink - Empire Flippers - Episode #127

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Amazon Legends is sponsored by Argometrix, the authority on, and leading supplier of, competitive intelligence for online retail. Learn more

Amazon Legends is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more

So many Amazon sellers face the problems that come from wholesalers and distributors trying to resell their products on Amazon. Jessica Beck is the Project & Inventory manager at Grandpa Beck Games and has dealt with these same issues. Jessica discusses her processes to set up the right agreements with distributors, contact unauthorized resellers, and how to protect your listing’s buy box.

Takeaways: 

• When you begin selling through wholesale distributors, you need to make sure to control the market to avoid competing with them on Amazon thereby driving the price down. You need to work with your distributors from the start to avoid this situation. 
• If your distributors don’t respect the agreement they have with you not to resell your products on Amazon, you need to stop distributing with them. 
• If you find other sellers on Amazon that have your product listed in large quantities, contact them politely to find out where they received the stock from so you can cut off the source. At scale, you need to monitor your buy box!
• If you know that unauthorized sellers are trying to sell counterfeits of your products on Amazon, file an IP infringement with Amazon Brand Registry. Amazon will almost immediately throw the seller out, so it can protect the consumer.
• Amazon as a platform offers incredible opportunities to smaller companies to grow a brand and scale their market. 
• While FBM offers greater control over your inventory, as your business grows, the cost savings and efficiency of FBA become more and more enticing. 
• Because Amazon is so complex and frequently makes massive changes, for business owners, it’s often better to outsource things like Amazon PPC ads and listing creation to companies that are experts on the subject.

Quote of the Show:

• “Fulfilling through Amazon for us has been a million percent worth it at the scale that we're at now” - Jessica Beck

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-beck-07bb74211/ 
• Company website: https://www.grandpabecksgames.com/ 
• Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A3T0HXZK4MID3M&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER 

Shout Outs:

• FBLA

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Successfully navigating Amazon as a new seller can seem impossible, but today’s guest has the strategy for new product launches that can help! Ashley Kinkead is the Founder and CEO of Private Label Mastery, the host of the Private Label Mastery Podcast, and the author of Million Dollar e-Com Secrets. Ashley outlines the Three by Two Method of testing products, what a great opportunity looks like for Amazon Sellers new and old, and the nuances of expanding your product based on one initial SKU.

Takeaways: 

• The Three By Two Method is a proven strategy for launching new private label products on Amazon. To implement it, launch 3 standalone SKUs at once, move forward with the 2 winners, and then scale the winning two. 
• The core idea behind the Three By Two Method is using a strategic approach to test multiple SKUs in small quantities that can provide you with valuable and actionable data on the opportunities available on Amazon. 
• For your initial testing, consider ordering a limited quantity of 100-500 units and move forward with the product with the most consistency in sales velocity over a 30-day period.
• When launching a product on Amazon, you don’t need an outrageous budget of $15,000 or $25,000 per product. You can have great success and be able to test different SKUs affordably by aiming for a budget in the range of $3,000-$5,000 per product.
• You need to prioritize collecting and analyzing data on your products from Amazon. This is vital for sellers to keep track of as it informs them on how products are selling, and whether or not to scale or restock that product.
• To generate effective exposure for your product, focus on finding markets without exorbitant PPC prices and over a thousand BSRs. Also, look for opportunities where you can rank on the first page of Amazon search results without tons of reviews or ad spend.
• Once you have done your testing and found a product that is selling well, start to experiment with creating variations of that SKU, adding accessories, and offering complementary products. 

Quote of the Show:

• “Data is really the most important asset you can have as an Amazon seller” - Ashley Kinkead

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-kinkead/ 
• Private Label Mastery Podcast: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-private-label-mastery-podc-561653 
• Million Dollar e-Com Secrets Book: https://ashleykinkead.com/ebook 
• Ashley’s website: https://ashleykinkead.com/welcome 
• Company website: https://plmastery.com/apply38351460-old 

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Creating a new product to sell on Amazon can be as simple as solving a solution to a problem that you have that doesn’t already have a solution. Sean Halpin, the founder of Halpin Solutions, has created many products such as PowerSk8r, DiscTreever, and Putt Anywhere, which have found success on Amazon. Sean discusses his process for creating new products, what you need to know to get on the first page of Amazon, and how best to advertise your products.

Takeaways: 

• When promoting your product and brand using ads on sites like Facebook and Google, you should link those ads to your Amazon listing instead of your website. This will lead to better sales and Amazon’s algorithm prefers products that bring in traffic to Amazon.
• Don’t be afraid of experimenting with different advertising channels. If your targeting and messaging are specific enough, even print media like magazines can be highly effective.
• If you are dealing with a problem and there are no solutions available when you search on Google, Bing, etc. you have the opportunity to create a product to solve that problem that other people are likely also facing. 
• When naming a product, you need to be careful with the words that you use, as some may be trademarked and the trademark holder may threaten legal action. 
• If you are considering manufacturing your products in China, you need to work with someone there who can actually walk through the factories and ensure the quality of your products. 
• If your product is very heavy, it may make sense to fulfill the orders yourself, instead of using FBA. However, there are other risks you run by not using Amazon’s fulfillment that you have to weigh against the potential cost savings of FBM.
• Before you can ever even dream that your product could make it to the first page of results on Amazon, you need to have lots of reviews of your products.  

Quote of the Show:

• “Somehow I've been on my own payroll since 1995, and I'm motivated by fear of having to work for somebody else” - Sean Halpin

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Halpin Solutions website
• String-light Covers website
• PowerSk8r website 

Shout Outs:

• Tim Zimmerman - Ice Hockey coach
• Route.com - Shipping insurance company

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Launching a new product on Amazon is a big, complicated process, but you don’t have to go in blind! Michelle Ross, a former teacher turned an entrepreneur, is the Co-Founder & COO of Cosmo Technologies. Michelle shares her experience of successfully launching a brand on Amazon and overcoming the challenges that new sellers face. You’ll hear about understanding what your customer really wants, how most effectively use your listing’s content, and what goes into thoughtfully forecasting demand.

Takeaways:

• When selling products meant for children, you need to attract and sell to their parents. What parents are looking for in a product is much different than what a child is looking for. You really need to understand what the decision-maker is looking for.
• Even if your listing is facing resellers, you can outperform them by better understanding what perceived attributes your customers are looking for beyond just a spec sheet, such as brand reputation, security, and privacy.
• Amazon is a great place to find new customers. 50% of parents shop for their children on Amazon. Amazon can act as the lead gen source, but you also need the other aspects that are expected of a brand. 
• You need to be intentional about the content that goes into your listings, this includes everything from written content to video content. Your listing has the opportunity to educate your customers about the product and the brand if done correctly.
• The graphic and video content in your listings should give customers a visual understanding of the product they are purchasing, how to use it, and what to expect from it. This helps take the place of the experience of physically interacting with the product. 
• You need a strategy for launching your product on Amazon. Before your listing goes live, you need to have the necessary fulfillment team in place and a strong understanding of the platform and its analytics.
• If you get a product complaint, you need to answer it and address it as soon as possible! If this lingers unanswered, Amazon may take your listing down, especially with new products.

Quote of the Show:

• “It does take a team and it also takes a good sense of adventure and humor to be an Amazon seller” - Michelle Ross

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Website
• Storefront
• Facebook
• Instagram

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Most Amazon Sellers would rather do anything other than do their own bookkeeping, but they desperately need accurate numbers to make business decisions. Keeping clean records is crucial to e-commerce companies’ long-term success because of the implications it has for scaling and selling the company. Nathan Hirsch went through the same experience as an Amazon Seller and he’s warning everyone from making the same mistakes he made. You’ll learn about the bookkeeping options available to your company, how to vet a bookkeeper, and how your monthly numbers can drive your company’s success.

Takeaways: 

• When you make business decisions based on your numbers every month, you can scale your Amazon business immensely. In order to know your numbers, you need to keep up-to-date, accurate records at all times.
• You cannot entrust your bookkeeping to a CPA, their primary goal is to file as many tax returns as possible. Because of this, it’s imperative to have someone else handling your bookkeeping who can actually spend time trying to help grow the company.
• For e-commerce companies, it’s critical to use an accrual-based system, not a cash-based system, for their books. Awareness of the balance sheet is also vital.
• There are two reasons entrepreneurs should not do their own bookkeeping. Firstly, it’s not a good use of their time, they should be focused on growing the business. Secondly, they are not bookkeeping experts and the mistakes they make will cost them.
• You need to vet your bookkeeper very carefully. Try to find someone who is already familiar with e-commerce companies. Avoid those that want to do everything manually, because the volume for e-commerce companies requires automation.
• Entrepreneurs need to have a plan for their bookkeeping and inventory management systems before they ever ship a single product.
• To avoid issues during due diligence when selling your company that could endanger the sale of your company, you have to keep clean books from day one. 

Quote of the Show:

• “One way or another, you're going to have to pay for bookkeeping. My advice is to just do it right from day one” - Nathan Hirsch

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Company website
• Company website

Shout Outs:

• Joe Valley - Co-Owner of Quiet Light Brokerage 

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Creating products that disrupt the way people think and act can seem is not something that can be done easily and just overnight. Adrian Chernoff is giving you his incredible methodology for creating new products way ahead of the competition. Adrian has 91 patents so far and won Coolest Invention of the Year from Time Magazine. Strap in for a creativity-charged conversation where you’ll learn about thinking without constraints, hidden secrets for marketing your products, and how to create the solutions of tomorrow.

Takeaways: 

• When you are creating something that is not very disruptive to an industry, looking at the data can be very helpful. However, if you are aiming to disrupt the market and go beyond the next logical step, you need to rely on your vision and insights for that solution.
• Adrian’s Methodology: Develop a vision for the product; Imagine that all the constraints don’t exist; Define the purpose of the vision; Define the purpose in a way that is staged; Translate that purpose into goals based on the stage; Start implementing it.
• To truly innovate, you need to unplug from the constraints of today and start living in the technologies and solutions of the future. Once you have the vision based on the future, you can backtrack to today and see what the first iteration of that looks like.
• The key to marketing your product is to cut through the noise by combining both the art side and the science side of marketing.
• Although it can seem daunting to generate your own messaging for your product, it’s crucial that you maintain control over that messaging.
• Before applying for an Amazon Seller account, you need to check the category that your product will be under. Some categories are gated because Amazon does not want more sellers in that category so it will be harder to get approved for that category.
• As a seller on Amazon, it’s critical to focus on what you personally do best and hire out the parts of your operation that you’re not an expert in.

Quote of the Show:

• “You have to drive a vision, a purpose, and a reality around this product or service you're creating” - Adrian Chernoff

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianchernoff/
• Company website: https://www.2idg.com/
• Personal website: http://www.adrianchernoff.com/

Shout Outs:

• FBA Tool Kit

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Discover the secrets for taking your Amazon business to the top of the charts and the first page of results! Sabir Semerkant has found success on Amazon from every starting point imaginable and is passing along what he has learned along the way. You’ll need a pen and paper as you learn about promoting your brand on Amazon the right way, how to rank higher when launching a new product on Amazon, and what you can do when it’s time to sell your Amazon Business.

Takeaways: 

• Amazon is a branding platform as much as it is a shopping platform. It’s imperative to use Amazon as a way to tell your brand’s story to the massive amount of 24/7 traffic on the site.  
• Using Brand Registry by itself is not enough, you need to also optimize your Enhanced Content. The Enhanced Content serves as an editorial space for the brand, don’t just upload an image and call it a day. 
• Don’t limit your dream to only ever being an Amazon seller; there are many companies and investors who are looking to acquire successful brands that sell on Amazon.
• Amazon sellers should factor in the freight costs of shipping their products, Amazon’s commission fees, and their true FBA charges as part of their Cost of Goods Sold when determining their Gross Margin. 
• When introducing a new product, there are two ways to rank on the first page of results on Amazon. The first way is by paying for sponsored ads on the first page. The second way is to use a “90% Discount” which helps increase product adoption.
• There are three key metrics from Amazon customers, recency, frequency, and monetary value. Amazon cares most about the frequency that a customer returns to Amazon to solve their problems. Subscribe & Save products are a great way to increase frequency.
• Selling your business comes with many hidden costs, like lawyers and certified accountants, and diverts your attention from growing the business. Until the sale is final, your focus should be on building your company.

Quote of the Show:

• “When you are building up a business, you should not just think about selling the product on Amazon and that's your life and you're going to be doing that for the rest of your life” - Sabir Semerkant

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Company website
• Podcast
• Blog
• Book

Ways to Tune In:

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Start using product bundles to propel your average order value sky-high while also increasing your margins! Zalman Teldon is an Amazon expert and is letting everyone in on the nuances of product bundles and the early mistakes to avoid when creating bundles. You’ll learn about how to protect your buy box, maintain the value of your brand, and provide the right content to drive conversions.

Takeaways: 

• Bundling products can help you succeed on Amazon as their fees rise. If your customers are ordering 2 units per order, you are charged for 2 Pick & Packs by Amazon. Whereas if they were sold as a bundle, Amazon would only charge for one Pick & Pack.
• Bundling two of the same exact products in a 2-pack works better than bundling two products of different colors or two different products.
• Consider using the virtual bundling feature on Amazon to test how your products sell as a bundle. Unfortunately, when using the virtual bundling system, Amazon still charges the Pick & Pack fee for each item.
• When sending in bundled products to FBA, you need to use a separate ASIN and UPC to indicate the bundled products from the single products.
• The content of your listings needs to evolve over time. Consumer preferences on the kind of content and what that content contains change with time. 
• The goal of content is conversions. Images are now more important than your descriptions, but there are ways to blend the description into the images using things like infographics.
• Address the concerns of the product upfront in your listing. This shows integrity, answers questions, and helps you avoid a massive amount of returns.

Quote of the Show:

• “Part of your brand equity is how you appear on Amazon” - Zalman Teldon

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Email: zteldon@gmail.com
• Company website

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast (Leave a Review): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amazon-legends-podcast/id1589750284
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/94668552/
• Podchaser (Leave a Review): https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/amazon-legends-podcast-1986925
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/092e0e83-44d8-42a3-9efd-f57daad2bbff/amazon-legends-podcast
• Audible: ​​https://www.audible.com/pd/Podcast/B08JJQKM6V
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/01NnJ5SHgUFTBDr77HtExu?si=7850ec72879e401e
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xODM1ODcwLnJzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG09G16uH1AhWSrnIEHbUABo0Q9sEGegQIARAD
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/amazon-legends-podcast
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/H4eTvw62QxE

What do you do when your company has a 400% increase in orders after surviving a down year? Cathleen Woodall faced the same challenge and came out on top! Cathleen is now sharing lessons to help Amazon sellers avoid many of the pitfalls she has come across in her own entrepreneurial journey. You’ll learn about how to set up deals with distributors for long-term success, the importance of controlling your brand, and how to maintain critical metrics to keep your listings thriving.

Takeaways: 

• When a wholesaler tries to sell your product, they are only looking for 30% margins and will charge drastically less and undercut your own listings for the same products. 
•  You need to have agreements in place with your distributors that bar them from being able to sell your product on Amazon. The terms of these agreements need to be clearly spelled out. If the distributors violate it, you need to stop doing business with them.
• Firing distributors may seem like a hard thing to do, but it helps your company in the long run. This gives control of your brand back to you and helps longer-term profits by avoiding being undercut on price.
• Your Listing Quality is very important to your success on Amazon. It’s crucial that you check the quality of the product and its packaging before it is sent to FBA warehouses. Track how many items you check and how many are sent in to find your inspection rate.
• If you are shipping products directly from your manufacturer to the FBA warehouse, you run the risk of missing quality errors which could lead to your listing being suspended.
• If your price point falls for non-sales-related reasons, it can be a long journey to work the price back up to its initial price point.
• When you are offering several similar products of varying quality and or value, you need to have a wide enough margin between the products so that the lower-priced products do not cannibalize the sales of the higher-priced products.

Quote of the Show:

• “We have to have control of our brand. We have to have control of our pricing. You can't be on Amazon and not have control of it.” - Cathleen Woodall

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Email: woodall@gelcoproducts.com
• Company Twitter
• Company website

Shout Outs:

• Jason Langston

Ways to Tune In:

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The logistics behind Amazon sellers has been turned upside down over the past few years, but there are ways to keep your supply chain moving consistently. Thankfully Kiah Hagen is here to share some of those ways which have helped her find success despite the challenges. You’ll hear about the benefits of using agents to handle factories and shipping, how to prepare for peak selling seasons, and why you need to be using Amazon’s brand registry.

Takeaways: 

• Part of your success as an Amazon Seller is tied to the relationship you have with your sourcing agent. You need to build a lot of trust with them and once you do they are more willing to help finance your product and work around your peak selling times.
• When producing your product outside of the US a sourcing agent can make a massive impact because they know the language, where to go for certain materials, and they have an existing relationship with the factories.
• Using a freight forwarder to arrange your shipping for your product gives you someone who is directly fighting to get your company’s goods shipped on time. You wouldn’t get this level of commitment if you contracted with the factory for all of the shipping.
• In peak times, you may run out of product available through FBA, so you need to be prepared to also sell your product with the same ASIN through FBM to meet demand.
• By using Brand Registry, you eliminate buy box competition from resellers who can undercut your prices and tarnish your brand’s reputation. If other sellers claim to sell your product you can easily report them to Amazon to get them removed.
• To get on Amazon’s Brand Registry, all you need is the serial number from your trademark application with the USPTO.
• Outsourcing things like bookkeeping, PPC, or photography not only raises the quality of the outputs of those tasks but it also lessens the stress on you and gives you more time to focus on growing your business. 

Quote of the Show:

• “Make sure you have a little bit of money left over, so that you can reorder your next order” - Kiah Hagen

Links:

• LinkedIn
• Email: pacificpupsproducts@gmail.com
• Company website
• Animal Rescue Website
• Animal Rescue Instagram

Shout Outs:

• Carlos Alvarez
• Wizards of E-commerce Podcast
• Upwork

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast (Leave a Review)
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The Amazon Launchpad Program presents an amazing opportunity to entrepreneurs starting new brands and yet not many people have heard of it. David Clark knows how awesome this program can be and is passing his knowledge on to you. You’ll learn about the side benefits of crowdfunding, the pros and cons of going into big-box retailers, and what the Amazon Launchpad Program can do for you.

Takeaways: 

• Using a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign gives your company many benefits beyond just the money raised. When you run a successful campaign, your company will get a massive amount of exposure, awareness, press, etc.
• When your product raises a lot of money through these crowdfunding campaigns, it gives validity to your brand and product. This will help make companies like Amazon and other retailers interested in carrying your product.
• The Amazon Launchpad Program helps new entrepreneurial companies with their go to market strategy. These brands will be prioritized within Amazon and receive support and benefits such as having their products listed featured.
• When distributing your product through big retailers, they will need a 40-50% margin and a massive amount of inventory so they can have the product in stock at every store instead of just the stores in which it’s selling well that are then going to sell out.
• Based on the pandemic in the past few years, consumers are more willing to take a risk on purchasing a product online because they know they will be able to return it without leaving their homes if it does not meet expectations.
• The moment that you submit your seller account application will be saved and will be the day of the week and time of day that Amazon will send your settlement. Make sure to submit your application after the busiest sales days of the week, Monday and Sunday.
• For a company that is a part of launchpad, you will have a team at Amazon who is there to help you. They will help you with crafting and optimizing your listings, especially with your images and videos.

Quote of the Show:

• “Having your product everywhere doesn't mean everything. Having your product in the right place and in front of the right people, that's what matters” - David Clark

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-p-clark-08070524/
• Company website: https://pawzigear.com/

Shout Outs:

• Amazon Launchpad Program

Ways to Tune In:

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Find the key to achieving success with your brand while selling on Amazon. Join Jeanine Fye in a discussion of how different parts of your Amazon operation impact your overall sales outcomes and which factors are the most important for you to watch out for. You’ll learn about the best practices for using FBA warehousing, how to understand the data you get from Amazon, and some great tips to increase your Amazon conversion rate!

Takeaways: 

• Every aspect of Amazon works together in a complex, integrated web. Something like your inventory can impact your ROAS. Because of this, you need to foster collaboration and communication with everyone involved on your team and look at the data.
• To find success and grow your brand on Amazon, you need to adopt an Amazon centric approach which requires having a direct to consumer mindset. You need to have a very good understanding of your customers and their needs.
• The most important thing to focus on is your inventory. Even if you have great listings and ad campaigns, you won’t sell anything if you don’t manage your inventory well. 
• Selling on Amazon requires you to be very detailed with each of your products as there are different changes you can make to each unique SKU to impact their performance. 
• When selling on an e-commerce marketplace, you need to consider that consumers will interact with your products differently than if they were in a retail store where they could feel, taste, smell, etc. your products. Use this when creating pages and picking images.
• Your pages have to communicate the information that your customers need within six seconds. This means the design must be very efficient and you should use your images, copy, etc. in concert with each other to give your customer the best experience possible.
• To get the level of detail that you need to be successful, you will need to use either a 3rd party integration to analyze the data and format it into a report or spend a lot of time deep inside of spreadsheets to discover the insights you need.

Quote of the Show:

• “Inventory is probably one of the biggest factors that most brands don't have a plan for, but they should” - Jeanine Fye

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanine-fye/
• Company website: https://www.predicategroup.com/
• J. Adams Store: https://www.amazon.com/stores/JAdams/page/D763EC90-F847-4A98-8AAE-C6BFEBF66BE9?ref_=ast_bln
• Slice of Goodness Store: https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A2A5BRXCRKFYNG&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music
• Audible
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• Spotify
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Map out your path to success being a seller on Amazon by building out your infrastructure from day one. Robert Gomez, a veteran Amazon seller, is passing along his knowledge from his experiences running two successful brands on Amazon. You’ll learn about when to start setting your company up for scaling, when the right time to use paid ad campaigns is, and which metrics are the most important to focus on during peak selling times.

Takeaways: 

• It’s more important for you as a seller to invest a lot of effort into building infrastructure for your brand to scale than focus just on sales.
• One of the new challenges to beginning to sell on Amazon that is becoming more common is that large private equity firms, venture capitalists, etc. are acquiring brands that have found success on Amazon and are pumping more funding into them.
• The earlier you start with building infrastructure and automation into your Amazon account, the easier it will be. You need to be aware of your brand’s financials in order to make informed, strategic decisions and that requires infrastructure.
• If your brand is not selling on Amazon, no matter what size it is, you are leaving money on the table. 
• If you aren’t selling on Amazon, other companies will also move in to take your potential space or even resell your products which drives down the price of your product and hurts your brand.
• During peak order times, knowing what your liquidity is and managing your inventory is paramount. In order to scale up to demand, you need to gain capital to buy more stock and the cheapest way to do that is with the credit you get from your suppliers.
• The ideal price point to use FBM in conjunction with paid ads depends on the item, but a good benchmark to have is to reach 25-30% margins after the cost of ads. This can vary based on circumstances such as competition and what the product is. 

Quote of the Show:

• “The quicker that you get traffic to the listing, the quicker you can work on conversion” - Robert Gomez

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertgom/
• Email: rgomez@4qbrands.com
• Company Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaffeproducts/
• Company website: https://kaffeproducts.com/
• Company website: https://bulletkeeper.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music
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• Google Podcast
• Stitcher
• YouTube