Seller Sessions Amazon FBA and Private Label

Factory Red Flags with Steven Selikoff   Welcome to Seller Sessions where we talk about real experiences from the world of manufacturing and commerce. In this episode, we're joined by Steven Selikoff who shares his recent, eye-opening trip to China. From the unsavory revelations about illegal labor to an awe-inspiring visit to an ultra-modern manufacturing hub, Selikoff provides a unique, insider perspective on the reality of today's factory landscape in China.   Key points: Factory Transparency: Steven Selikoff emphasises the importance of thoroughly inspecting factories, including the office and showroom, production floor, quality assurance, and shipping warehouse. This is essential in assessing the factory's practices and potential clientele. Labor Issues: Selikoff recounts a startling experience where he discovered a factory was potentially employing illegal labor. A "showcase" factory was used to impress auditors and customers, while another hidden factory carried out the actual production. The scenario highlighted potential issues like forced labor or child labor in some factories. Modern Factory Practices: In stark contrast, Selikoff also shares his experience at a large, modern factory where high-quality, ethical production practices are followed. This factory demonstrated effective use of automation, strict quality control, and a clean, organized work environment, illustrating the strides China is making towards modern manufacturing. Cost vs Ethics: The anecdote brings to light the ethical considerations businesses must keep in mind when choosing their suppliers. Cheaper costs can sometimes point to unethical labor practices, and it's important to thoroughly vet potential factories. Final Summary: This podcast episode offers a compelling glimpse into the realities of factory operations in China, as told by Steven Selikoff. From the alarming discovery of potential illegal labor practices to the promising strides towards modern, ethical manufacturing, his experiences underline the importance of due diligence and ethical considerations in global commerce. It's a must-listen for anyone sourcing products from overseas, providing valuable insights into navigating the complex landscape of international manufacturing.   Are you a 7 figure brand selling on Amazon?   Want to work with an Agency that knows both PPC and the A9 algorithm?   Click here to request a free PPC Audit https://www.databrill.com/

Estonian Super Star Amazon Seller Egle Radeek - Back From The Brink   Welcome back to the podcast! In today's episode, we have a special guest, Egle, who will be sharing her story of an exit just before the bubble burst in 2022. Egle has been a frequent guest on our show and has also appeared on other platforms. While her journey may not have followed the traditional success story, it's important to shed light on the challenges entrepreneurs face. So, let's dive into the compelling parts of Egle's story and explore the lessons we can learn.   Key Points:   The prelude to the exit: Egle was approached to start selling her business in December 2021, and everything seemed promising. However, their main seller faced issues due to a catalogue error in the Amazon system, leading to a significant loss in revenue. Despite working with aggregators and consultants, they struggled to overcome the obstacles. The impact of COVID-19: Just as they managed to resolve the listing issue, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Since their business focused on office supplies, their customer base suffered as people transitioned to remote work. This further added to their challenges, making survival seem like a daily struggle. The decision to continue or shut down: Faced with mounting debts and the need to invest in new ventures, Egle and her business partner had to make a difficult choice. They consulted with experts and realised that although their business had flatlined, it still had potential for growth post-pandemic. They decided to persevere and wait for better times.   Final Summary:   Egle's story highlights the harsh realities entrepreneurs can face, even in favourable circumstances. Despite setbacks, Egle and her team chose to weather the storm and find opportunities within the adversity. By stabilising their business, optimising their strategies, and leveraging the understanding of aggregators, they held on, believing that their industry would eventually recover. This tale reminds us that entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster journey, and success often requires resilience and the ability to adapt to unexpected challenges.   Are you a 7 figure brand selling on Amazon?   Want to work with an Agency that knows both PPC and the A9 algorithm?   Click here to request a free PPC Audit https://www.databrill.com/

Estonian Roundtable with 7+8 Figure Amazon Sellers On this episode of Seller Sessions, the hosts (Danny & Adam Heist) sit down we a group of successful Estonian sellers to discuss the challenges faced by Amazon sellers in general and how to overcome them. The Estonian crew share their experience with finding the "sweet spot" for their product to generate the most sales. They also discuss the importance of community in solving business problems, as well as the need for a solid plan to succeed in the industry.   Episode Topic: Finding the Sweet Spot for Amazon Sellers   - The team's goal is to find the "sweet spot" for their product category to generate the most sales velocity. - Ivan negotiates in China to determine how to achieve the right price point and required velocity. - The team focuses on the market and sweet spot first. - Internal workshops help them realise their biggest mistake in not mentioning the market earlier.   Key Takeaways: - The importance of community in a co-working space, including non-Amazon experts. - Building a tool for keyword targeting and the importance of relevance and being realistic. - A discussion of the challenges Amazon sellers face this year versus last. - The importance of finding the right market before the product. - The necessity of managing expenses, detaching from unsuccessful products, and building a product pipeline. - Pay-per-click is a necessary evil and a significant cost centre outside of factory cogs. - The team's pivot from product development to finding a suitable market to populate with five-figure products.   Are you a 7 figure brand selling on Amazon?   Want to work with an Agency that knows both PPC and the A9 algorithm?   Click here to request a free PPC Audit https://www.databrill.com/  

Aligning Product Development and Brand Personality for Amazon FBA Success In this episode Join Sharon Even as she Explores the transformative impact of shaping products to align with your brands purpose to help shape your Brands personality. She emphasizes the significance of comprehensive buyer and competitor research, uncovering market gaps on a brand personality level that fuel effective branding strategies and more. Through an engaging real-life story, discover how she strategized transforming three unrelated kids' products into a cohesive niche, simplifying target marketing efforts and empowering a robust brand strategy.

Ben Leonard - In-Depth On this episode of Seller Sessions, Ben Leonard shares his experience of selling his first business and working with experts to invest his exit money smartly. He talks about the challenges he faced while setting up his own brand, including facing legal challenges and self-doubt. Ben also discusses the impact of entrepreneurship on mental health and how this played a role in turning around to build BeastGear into a 6m business before exiting to Thrasio in Nov 2019.      - Ben's Personal Story - Ben's initial career in environmental advising - Heart problem and mental health struggles that led to his entrepreneurial spark - Mistakes he made with trademarks and selling his business   - Ben's Business Journey - How Ben started his business with the Beast Rope jump rope - How he ordered samples from manufacturers and refined the product with boxers - Legal challenge from a Canadian company that sued Ben for patent infringement - Advice from Scott, and Ben's customer-first approach   - Personal Finance and Investing - Ben's journey meeting an independent financial advisor after selling his first business - Importance of working with experts and learning enough about a topic to understand it - Ben's investment strategy after selling his business - Importance of saving money in multiple accounts to protect against bank busts - Ben's lifestyle changes after the sale   - Entrepreneurship and Mental Health - Why people become entrepreneurs - Mental health issues prevalent among entrepreneurs - Potential genetic link between entrepreneurship and mental health issues

Seller Sessions Live Recap with Adam Heist On this episode of Seller Sessions, Adam Heist is recording remotely from Morocco and discussing the key themes and learnings from a recent Seller Sessions Live. He talks about the importance of creating products based on specific customers and building a brand product emotion. He shares his approach to building his new brand, Radio, using equity to bring in world-class team members and leveraging 3D renderings from a company in Germany to bring the visual identity of the brand together.  The focus of the discussion is on the move towards more professionalized businesses in the Amazon space and the key theme of brands over hacks from the speakers on the day. The podcast addresses ways to uplift views, reach, followers and commercial sales, such as running ads on Reels and TikTok. Also, they discuss using expired domains and generating SEO-rich articles using AI for cheap organic traffic and good Google organic SEO.  Adam also discuss strategies for optimising Listing Quality Score (Ben Webber), including improving listing quality and adding missing attributes. They suggest using hooks, like mentioning that a product is BPA-free to increase conversion rates and launching individual single keyword targeting campaigns for specific words. They advise to focus on maintaining conversion rates for those keywords, simplifying 7 to 10 keywords to achieve dramatic launch results within the first 30 days. In addition, the podcast discusses the strategy used by Beast Gear to engage with their Instagram followers, and the importance of customer engagement at a personal level by using personally typed-out replies to customer comments on posts and reaching out to customers when new products are launched. They will also do a future podcast episode with a deep dive on their brand build strategy.   Topics covered in this episode:   1. Building a new brand called Radio - Selling folding kids balance bikes - Importance of creating products based on specific customers and building a brand product emotion - Different approach to building this business compared to others   2. Discussion on an event that took place - Key themes and learnings from the presentations at the event - Amazon space becoming more professionalized - Key theme of brands over hacks   3. Running ads on Reels, TikTok, and Google - Uplifting views, reach, followers, and commercial sales - Focusing on broad trends and niching down as an effective strategy - Using expired domains and Phrase IO for SEO-rich content   4. Launch strategy for a brand - Starting with Kickstarter and moving to Amazon and retail - Focusing on audience and brand building, using influencers, email traffic, and "weaponising" tactics for Amazon   5. Tools and strategies for Amazon sellers - Updates to Pixel Me software for driving external traffic to Amazon using conversion objectives - Listing Quality Score on Amazon   6. Recap of Seller Sessions live event in London   Key facts: - Beast Gear's strategy to engage with Instagram followers - Simplified 7 to 10 keywords result in dramatic launch results within the first 30 days - Listing Quality Score can impact organic results on Amazon - Using hooks, like mentioning that a product is BPA-free, can significantly increase conversion rates.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary: Transforming Your Business with a Unique Brand Personality In this episode, Sharon delves deep into the captivating realm of brand personality and uncovers its profound significance in establishing lasting connections with your buyers. Learn why a clear Brand Personality is vital in 2023 and how it sets the tone for your entire Branding and marketing strategies. Uncover the main brand personalities and archetypes and their impact, with examples from real brands. Explore how brand personality helps you stand out on Amazon. Align your brand personality with your target audience and optimize creative and marketing strategies.

Understanding Search Query Performance and KPIs with Supa Template   In this episode Danny is joined by Mansour Norouzi to discuss his prebuilt Dashboard to help sellers really dial in on their metrics around the search query performance dashboard.   To help you get started with Amazon’s search query performance dashboard, Mansour  created two pre-built SUPA templates that you can use to organise the data from your Seller Central account. These templates will help you analyse your search term data more efficiently and make data-driven decisions about optimising your listings   Episode Summary:   - Importance of checking data sources before making judgments - Amazon's various reports can cause confusion and incorrect assumptions - Metrics are important for measuring performance - Issues with Amazon's APIs - Using Amazon advertising for experimentation and measuring impact - Importance of measuring purchase share for ad impact on branded keywords - Importance of tracking conversion rates and market share for brand performance - Traditional measures like total sales trend may not accurately reflect brand growth - Product Opportunity Explorer for tracking search term trends and brand comparison to market - Consistency of performance for specific keywords - Utilising Brand Analytics for maintaining or increasing market share - Importance of analysing impact on purchase share for advertising and keyword testing - Amazon's focus on customers rather than vendors - Understanding search query performance and KPIs through funnel and super template shapes - Potential issues with local and geo ranking.   About Mansour   Mansour Norouzi was born in Tehran, Iran on August 25, 1986. He is the second Child among his 4 siblings. Mansour stood out in high school for being good with math and physics. Due to his passion for math, he applied to study engineering in university. After graduating from master of civil engineering in 2010, Mansour started his career as a construction manager. Then, he immigrated to Canada and continued his career as a construction manager.   Although, Mansour liked his field, he was fascinated by the idea of working online and being able to work while traveling. He started searching and learning for the online opportunities till he got to know about selling products on Amazon in 2018. While working in his full-time job, Mansour kept learning and started his own online business by the end of 2018. He made like-minded friends by attending to business seminars and expanded his network.   Being good with math and numbers, Mansour realised he is pretty good with one important part of Amazon FBA business and it was Amazon Advertising. Soon, he started getting his own clients to manage their advertising. He finally joined Incrementum Digital team in July 2020. Grab your Template here and get to work https://incrementumdigital.com/blog/performance-growth/understanding-search-query-performance-sqp-on-amazon-a-comprehensive-guide/?fbclid=IwAR3dAZrS2MIiTf89NpwWgmlGZGbtD1YYqJPnctYL-zvbL20Zp3i_pG0blYI

On this episode of Seller Sessions, Danny and Ferit discusses the unknown factors behind Instagram's algorithm and how it may impact organic reach. They also share valuable insights on how to effectively reach and engage with audiences on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. They emphasise the importance of determining clear KPIs and establishing a strong audience base before monetising content. They also provide valuable tips on utilising ad platforms like Ad Center and highlight the significance of quality and engagement ranking for content. Additionally, they share their experience running ad campaigns on Instagram reels and provide insights on the effectiveness of using user-generated content for video production.   - Introduction to the podcast episode - The unknown factors regarding organic reach on Instagram's algorithm - Testing target pre for organic plays on Instagram for only £25 - Choosing between TikTok and Instagram as platforms for building a brand - The potential for reach on Instagram becoming capped due to ads and competition - Importance of starting with clear KPIs to avoid going in different directions later on - Building an audience first as a common strategy for monetisation - The ease of reaching an audience on TikTok versus the engagement and loyal followers on Instagram and Meta services - A brand approaching the podcast hosts for an audience expansion project and finding quality leads for soon-to-be-monetised content - Determining clear KPIs to choose the right platforms to leverage for ads - Ad targeting options on Facebook Ads Manager and Instagram app boosting - Ad Center as an alternative ad platform - The trend of vertical video consumption on TikTok and the success of similar platforms such as Reels - The benefits of running ads on Real, including organic-feeling placement and CTA buttons - The low cost of video creation on Real and confusing reporting on Instagram reels - The unexpected additional organic plays generated by ad spend on comments, shares, likes, and saves - Ad Center providing accurate estimations compared to the Instagram app - The importance of terminating KPIs that aren't working for a brand's growth - Understanding and utilising quality ranking and engagement ranking on Ads Manager - The effectiveness and limitations of Instagram versus TikTok for building audiences and selling products - Key factors such as KPIs, cost per acquisition, and quality followers - The value of engagement shares and saves versus three-second video plays - The potential benefits of content being shared between peers - The organic increase in reach due to content being sent to friends not being included in reporting - Conclusion to the podcast episode.   Bio Ferit is a digital marketing expert who understands the importance of creating quality content and building an engaged audience before monetising. He believes in determining clear KPIs and leveraging various platforms to expand brand reach and generate quality leads. Ferit has worked with several brands and tested different alternatives for audience expansion, including using Facebook Ads Manager, Instagram boosting options, and the algorithm from the Instagram app, while also emphasising the importance of flexibility in audience segmentation, budget, and scheduling. His goal is to help brands create engaging content and build loyal audiences to achieve long-term success.   If you want to get in touch with Ferit send a DM.

Paul Harvey returns and chat about some of the nuances of TikTok ads that will be useful for sellers.   Amazon does not index TikTok traffic (evident from no changes to the sessions and conversion rate).   Amazon Attribution's tracking metrics cannot be relied upon.... either TikTok negates the tracking or Amazon does not track it.   The only metric we can rely upon is SALES. There is a sales impact from TikTok traffic, often around 30-40%, but the effect is either immediate or delayed by days, weeks even months.   Here is the blog post: https://www.newsletter.rankster.co/p/measured-success-tiktok-campaign related to this episode