The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

We’ve had a lot of challenges in September, particularly those related to importing and developing products. This is not unusual for e-commerce sellers dealing with suppliers on the other side of the world.   However, despite these challenges, we’ve had a lot of wins in terms of content in many of our brands. We’ve recently been playing around with some new tools to improve SEO, including an on-page AI tool that boosted our traffic significantly.   Timestamps: 1:58 - Why our overall revenue dipped in September 2:47 - YoY updates of the brands 8:43 - Is just-in-time inventory better? 10:17 - The difficulties of designing and launching new products 15:40 - Brand wins for October 17:38 - How we use an on-page AI tool to beef up our content 23:49 - Failing to add country of origin labels   Check out the Brand Report that complements this episode. Secret Sauce and EcomCrew Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly Income Report, which contains a more detailed breakdown of our numbers and strategies.   If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. We’d love to hear about what topics you want us to discuss next.

Our guest, Tomer Rabinovich, is a magician-turned-entrepreneur. Without any formal training in sales, he was able to launch and scale multiple e-commerce brands. But aside from running his own business, Tomer is passionate about helping other sellers through mastermind classes and his live lectures. This time, he’s gone a step further and wrote a book for beginner sellers called Ride the Amazon Wave.   In this episode, we talk about the book, how Tomer got started with e-commerce, and the lessons he learned along the way.   Timestamps: 2:31 - How it all started for Tomer 5:28 - Failures in e-commerce 11:00 - Difference between Amazon and Shopify and why it’s okay to focus on one platform 13:03 - Why it’s hard to build brand loyalty on Amazon 15:05 - Applying the 6-star experience to land 5-star reviews 21:33 - Not going after the shiny new objects 23:16 - How to scale and systemize your business Tomer's book, Ride the Amazon Wave, is a great read for Amazon third-party sellers of all levels. You can purchase the book through Amazon, and if you want to reach out to our guest, go to jointopdog.com. Check out other episodes from the podcast on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a review.

Mike talks about where he’s been the past 3 weeks, and highlights how Masterminds have been instrumental in his business.   Today’s episode is a short one – I wanted to give a short life update on what’s been going on during the past few weeks. I’ve been a little absent for work in the past few weeks to attend a wedding, go on an anniversary cruise with my wife, and also to speak at the Sell + Scale Summit.   After getting back from Sell + Scale however, I started to feel a little off. That feeling started to suddenly get more intense, and before I knew it, I had caught COVID sometime after getting back from the cruise and until now I still haven’t fully recovered which has really pushed me back on work that I need to catch up on.    Anyway, I wanted to talk about the real meat and potatoes of this episode – Masterminds. If you're new to the podcast, Masterminds are basically moderated groups of ecommerce entrepreneurs that will help keep each other accountable to their yearly, quarterly and monthly goals for their business and personal lives.   After just getting back from a weekend with my Mastermind group, I’ve learned that everyone has something that they’re going through, despite how much money they have or how successful they seem to be on the outside.    And it’s not just in personal lives, but in business too. My Mastermind group started out after meeting each other in eCommerce Fuel Live and we first shared the common tips on how to get ahead on Amazon, and the like.    But after 6 to 8 years of getting to know these people, it’s more personal now. We’re here for each other through the tears, through the issues that others have in their personal lives, and we talk about them with each other to hopefully help our lives for the better.    Personally, joining a mastermind group has probably been one the best decisions I’ve made for my business, and I really hope that you'll see how advantageous it is to be part of one.    If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes.    Happy selling and I’ll see you on the next one!

Mike and eCommerceFuel founder Andrew Youderian break down the biggest takeaways from this year’s eCommerce Trends Report and discuss what they mean to online sellers.   eCommerceFuel’s eCommerce Trends Report is an annual survey of 7-8 figure store owners that provides a unique and detailed look into which trends are shaping the ecommerce landscape year over year.   Joining me for this episode is none other than eCommerceFuel founder Andrew Youderian. We’ll be breaking down the four biggest takeaways from the 2022 edition of the eCommerce Trends Report to paint you a clear picture of the ecommerce ecosystem and how you can take advantage of these insights to grow your business.    Some of the awesome things we talk about include why ROAS is no longer a good success indicator, why raising prices is not as scary as you might think, and what the best ecommerce business model is today.    Timestamps: Introduction to the 2022 eCommerce Trends Report - 1:08 Takeaway #1: ROAS Is Wildly Overrated for Success - 4:06 Takeaway #2: We’ve Hit Peak Amazon - 8:28 Takeaway #3: You Need to Raise Your Prices (Again) - 13:13 Sidebar: What seller can learn from artists who constantly reinvent themselves - 22:29 Takeaway #4: Manufacturing + Storytelling Crushes All Other Models - 24:53 What the eCommerceFuel community is all about - 32:00   If you want to get into the nitty gritty details of the survey, be sure to check out the full report here. As always, I enjoyed having Andrew on the podcast, and I’m excited to have him back for more episodes soon. You can check out the eCommerceFuel community on their website or hit him up on LinkedIn.   If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes. Happy selling and I’ll see you on the next one!

Mike and Steve talk about the brutal truth behind success stories in business and how they manage to keep track of the more important things in life as entrepreneurs.   Hey, it’s Mike and Steve here coming at you with a podcast before we go on stage at the Sell + Scale Summit.    In this episode, we give you a sneak peek into our topic of discussion at the event—brutal truths about success in business. We chose this topic not only to deviate from the usual seller conference topics, but also to bring to fore some equally important aspects about running a business that people don’t really talk about during these events.    This episode is filled with insights about the truth behind happiness vis-a-vis money and luxury, the 4-burner theory that helped us scale our business while maintaining healthy relationships, and how we personally dealt with the common struggles that entrepreneurs have.    Timestamps:  How we chose our topic for the Sell + Scale Summit - 0:42 What is The 4-Burner Theory? - 6:00 Common misconceptions about success stories in ecommerce - 11:53 The value of having friends with the same values as you - 27:27 What makes the ‘four burners’ concept so profound and effective - 29:43 Why busy is the new stupid - 37:15   Lots of thanks to Steve for doing this episode with me. You can check out all his awesome stuff over on mywifequitherjob.com. I’m looking forward to having him back for more podcasts episodes down the road.    If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes. Until the next one. Happy selling!

Dave breaks down EcomCrew’s August 2022 Brand Report—our big revenue drivers, the recent strategies we implemented, and our biggest wins and fails for the month.   It’s Dave here, and I’m excited to jump on this quick solo podcast to talk about our biggest wins and fails in this August 2022 Brand Report.    For those who are new to the podcast, our Brand Report is a monthly Blog and Podcast update where we give you a sneak peek into our numbers and figures in real time, talk about what’s working (and what’s not), and which marketplace trends factored into our bottomline over the past month.    In this update, I’ll go over why August 2022 turned out to be an awesome month revenue-wise for us, despite historically being slow because of the seasonal products in our portfolio. I also share how we produce videos, rebrand a business, and hire offshore employees, among other good stuff. Let’s get right into it!   Timestamps:  Our revenue numbers for August 2022 - 1:29 How we produce videos for new brand - 4:47 Rebranding one of our existing brands - 7:58 Our biggest wins for this month - 9:59 A couple of fails this month - 13:22 Wrapping up our brand update - 18:22   If you want to dive deeper into our numbers for August 2022, head over to ecomcrew.com/august-brand-report, and don’t forget to share how your August went as well!    As always, leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we’ll catch you on the next one!

Mike and longtime friend Cole South talk about why ecommerce sellers can learn a thing or two from poker pros, the challenges of running a lot of brands, and some awesome new ecommerce tools.   As I’ve mentioned dozens of times in this podcast, I was into poker and affiliate marketing before ultimately starting my first ecommerce brand. While some people may find this to be a strange transition, there’s actually quite a few of us who went the same route.   Joining me for this episode is Cole South, a longtime friend from way back in my poker days who’s also currently running multiple ecommerce brands himself.    Some of the good stuff we talk about in this entry include why poker pros seem to make great ecommerce entrepreneurs, what makes running multiple ecommerce brands hard (and why sellers still do it anyway), and Cole’s awesome new software tailored to streamlining your ecommerce business.   Timestamps:  Why many poker pros get into ecommerce - 1:06 How Cole found out about ecommerce - 3:01 The challenges and benefits of running many ecommerce brands - 5:21 Cole’s current ecommerce brands and niches - 9:40 The future of ecommerce and why it’s become harder - 15:18 An awesome new tool for ecommerce sellers - 20:13 Where to check out all of Synchronize’s features - 26:20   I wanna thank Cole for coming on the show, we’d be thrilled to have him back anytime! If you want to learn more about his new software, Synchronize, they’re currently offering a sweet deal exclusively to EcomCrew Podcast listeners. Head over to synchronize.com/ecomcrew. You can also hit Cole up directly on his Twitter.   As always, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we’ll see you on the next one!

Mike and Jake unpack the biggest takeaways from the latest edition of Jungle Scout’s State of the Amazon Seller Report to learn how sellers did this past year and what their plans are moving forward.   The State of the Amazon Seller is an awesome annual report by Jungle Scout that gives valuable insights about Amazon sellers every year.   In this episode, Jungle Scout’s very own Jake Zaristian joins me in breaking down the most interesting data points and tidbits from the 2022 edition of this report.    We go over topics like the impact of supply chain disruptions to Amazon businesses, the ongoing storage issues plaguing Amazon sellers, rising costs to sell on Amazon, and much more. So, whether you’re new to selling on Amazon or an experienced seller who wants to know what your competitors are doing, this is an episode you can’t miss!   Timestamps:  EcomCrew’s limited-time Master Class Mini Bundle offer - 2:01 Introduction to Jake from Jungle Scout - 4:12 Why most sellers stayed profitable despite supply chain issues (and why some didn’t) - 7:20 The ongoing inventory challenges for sellers in 2022 - 11:26 How supply chain disruptions affected a quarter of Amazon sellers - 12:05 How sellers are using FBM and AGL to minimize storage and fulfillment issues - 13:59 The rising costs of selling on Amazon- 20:21 Other big challenges for Amazon sellers in 2022 - 23:08 Why Amazon is still a great business to get into - 25:10 The biggest alternatives to Amazon, according to sellers - 27:50 Amazon corporate’s huge disconnect with its third-party sellers - 30:53   I want to thank Jake for joining me for this very insightful episode. If you want to dig deeper, check out the full 2022 State of the Amazon Seller Report here. Plus, don’t forget to check out EcomCrew’s 2022 Consumer Behavior Report to get into the mind of Amazon shoppers as well.  Before we go, don’t forget to check out our best bundle offer yet, featuring 12 expert-led Secret Sauce classes PLUS a full-length FBA For Absolute Beginners Course over on ecomcrew.com/classbundle.   Lastly, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Until the next one, happy selling!

Society Brands CEO Michael Sirpilla explains why the company’s founder-centric approach to aggregating is a more lucrative and fairer offer to online entrepreneurs.   Being the sentimental guy that I am, I’ve always found it a little disheartening how swift it is for entrepreneurs to sell and turn over their businesses to aggregators.   However, Society Brands strategy is more of a collaborative effort than a one-and-done business transaction. It’s a concept I can definitely get behind.   Unlike many roll-ups where the seller relinquishes full control of the company after a certain period, Society Brands encourages founders to stay on and help steer the ship.   Michael (Sirpilla, not Jackness), who took over the company as CEO in January 2022, describes Society Brands as “if an aggregator and an FBA mastermind had a baby.”   This strategy offers a win-win scenario for the seller, giving them an opportunity to take an offer, continue to manage the business as it grows, and then fully exit at a higher level down the line.   Check out the highlights from this episode:   Timestamps: Intro to Michael and what Society Brands is all about - 3:29 Why it helps to keep founders onboard - 7:33 Society Brands’ valuation multiples -10:52 The “founder to president” transition - 13:17 How long the transition process takes - 16:29 Society Brands’ criteria for acquiring businesses - 19:49 What’s happening in the aggregator space? - 21:34 Areas where aggregators could succeed or fail -  25:23 How to contact Society Brands - 27:53 Michael, thank you for your time. I look forward to doing a followup on this conversation a year or two from now and see how the aggregating space would look then.   If you have a business for sale and want to find out if Society Brands is a good match, head over to their website and schedule a call. You can also reach out to Michael on LinkedIn.   If you enjoy our podcast, feel free to leave us a review on iTunes. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

After recording this episode, Ben's back to ask about the various strategies that I've been incorporating into our brands to revive our profit margins.  In this new episode, Ben will be asking me a bunch of questions on how I've managed to increase profitability back to 15% from almost losing money in the beginning of the year. We've covered a few of these strategies in the past, but I thought it'd be nice to have it all in one episode for the audience to take and use for their own brands. This episode is all about increasing profitability. With Covid-related challenges to consider and inflation in full swing, we thought this was a highly important subject to talk about, especially with Q4 in the horizon.  If you listened all the way to the end, then you know we have some exciting topics to discuss in upcoming episodes of this series, so make sure to tune in to the podcast. As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!