20 Years on Amazon: The Hard Truths Experienced Sellers Won’t Tell You with Fred Adler

Jun 3, 2025

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Fred started Cosmetic Solutions.com online store in 1996 and was one of the first third party sellers in Beauty on Amazon starting in 2003. Cosmetic Solutions is on the gorilla list of Biggest All Time Amazon Sellers in the top 260. Cosmetic Solutions’ first 10 years were dedicated to selling everything at one time boasting over 100,000 sku's and offering everything from professional beauty and what you would find at your local drugstores. Now as the business on Amazon has evolved Cosmetic Solutions is dedicated to selling its Brands as the authorized reseller and brands rights holder like skin care brand Dermactin and hair care brand Difeel and nail care brand Barielle.

> Here’s a glimpse of what you would learn….

Challenges of counterfeiting on Amazon and brand protection strategies.
The evolution of selling on Amazon and adapting to marketplace changes.
Importance of innovation and product development for competitiveness.
Strategies for maintaining healthy profit margins amidst rising costs.
Role of customer service in identifying product issues and enhancing satisfaction.
Necessity of monitoring key performance metrics for business success.
Building strong customer relationships to inform product offerings.
Importance of delegation and team building for business growth.
Navigating unexpected challenges in the e-commerce landscape.
The significance of having a clear vision for business direction and growth.

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley interviews Fred Adler, founder of Cosmetic Solutions and a seasoned Amazon seller with over two decades of experience. Fred shares invaluable insights on tackling counterfeiting, maintaining competitiveness, and leveraging customer service for product development. He emphasizes the importance of a robust distribution strategy, constant innovation, and attentive customer service to stay ahead in Amazon's dynamic marketplace. The episode concludes with actionable takeaways on protecting profit margins, optimizing operations, and engaging with customer feedback to drive business growth.

Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:

1. Proactively Monitor and Protect Your Listings from Counterfeits

Regularly check your product listings for inaccuracies, such as image swaps or unauthorized changes, to prevent sales loss.
Implement unique SKUs for different sales channels (Amazon, retail, DTC) to help distinguish your authentic products from counterfeit ones.
Consider working with legal experts to safeguard your brand against counterfeiters and unauthorized resellers.

2. Optimize Operational Costs to Protect Profit Margins

Track daily metrics, including FBA fees, cost of goods sold (COGS), and overhead costs, to identify areas for optimization.
Work directly with shipping carriers and explore alternative fulfillment strategies to reduce logistics expenses.
Conduct regular audits of product classifications and Amazon’s warehousing fees to avoid unexpected financial losses

3. Leverage Customer Insights for Product Innovation and Service Improvement

Actively engage with customer feedback to identify pain points and improve product offerings before issues escalate.
Use customer input to develop new product variations or features that competitors may overlook.
Advocate for better direct communication tools on Amazon to enhance customer service and build brand loyalty.

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Episode Sponsor

Sponsor for this episode...
This episode is brought to you by eComm Breakthrough Consulting where I help seven-figure e-commerce owners grow to eight figures.

I started Hadley Designs in 2015 and grew it to an eight-figure brand in seven years.

I made mistakes along the way that made the path to eight figures longer. At times I doubted whether our business could even survive and become a real brand. I wish I would have had a guide to help me grow faster and avoid the stumbling blocks.

If you’ve hit a plateau and want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level, then go to www.EcommBreakthrough.com (that’s Ecomm with two M’s) to learn more.

Transcript Area

Josh Hadley 00:00:00 Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough podcast. I'm your host, Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Past guests include Kevin King, Aaron Cordovez, and Michael E Gerber, author of the E-myth. Today I am speaking with Fred Adler, and we're going to be talking about the three biggest lessons that he has learned after selling on Amazon...