The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Mike and Josh talk about an ecommerce business acquisition from a seller’s perspective—from finding the right buyer, structuring the deal, and taking care of employees.     We’ve done a whole series with ecommerce and Amazon FBA aggregators throughout the year, so I thought it would be a good idea to hear from someone who’s been on the other side of the transaction.    Josh Dittrich is an entrepreneur, 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.    In this episode, Josh will be sharing his recent experience of going through the whole process of selling one of his businesses to an ecommerce aggregator. We’ll talk about how he ended up deciding to sell the business, how he found the right aggregators to reach out to, and how he took care of his employees during the transition.   Near the end of the episode, Josh will also give some specific and actionable advice on things you should do if you’re looking to secure that profitable exit in a few months or in a couple of years down the road.    Timestamps: Introduction - 0:30 How Josh found the aggregators to reach out to - 3:15 What the offers looked like and how they structured the deal - 7:18 How the transition works out for his employees - 14:02 Josh’s specific advice for sellers looking to exit in the near future - 22:47   Resources mentioned: hahnbeck.com    I want to thank Josh for doing this very insightful episode with me. You can reach him directly by visiting brandedseller.com or emailing him at josh@brandedseller.com.   Before you go, don’t forget to answer our quick 2-minute Amazon Software Poll for the chance to win a year’s worth of EcomCrew Premium membership valued at $2000 absolutely free! Just go to ecomcrew.com/softwarepoll.   As always, please leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Until the next one, happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

Mike and Fortunet Co-Founder Yael break down a survey of 42 aggregators to show what they really look for when evaluating ecommerce businesses.   Fortunet, an ecommerce investment and banking firm, just came out with a very insightful report surveying 42 ecommerce aggregators. The report sheds light on what aggregators really look for in businesses and which things have the most impact on buying multiples.    Joining me today is none other than Fortunet’s Co-Founder and Partner, Yael Cabilly. We’ll be breaking down the report’s Executive Summary, which confirms some visible market trends and also debunks some misconceptions you might have about aggregators.    You can access the full report over on Fortunet’s website.   Audio Timestamps:  Introduction to Fortunet - 0:38 Which categories aggregators prefer most and which ones they exclude - 3:59 Why buyers don’t acquire solely wholesale businesses - 11:07 Aggregators generally require a minimum operating history of one year - 13:17 Roughly half of aggregators require at least a 15% SDE profit margin - 15:24 Most aggregators buy businesses with a minimum purchase price of $500K-1M - 16:37 90% of aggregators purchase or prefer to purchase the assets only - 18:01 61% of aggregators prefer full acquisition - 20:02 Preferred deal structures - 22:26 Some buyers offer some equity in the holding company - 24:44 Most aggregators do not value additional sales channels, they value patents - 25:13 Most buyers seek to grow the brand (not flip them) - 26:43    I want to thank Yael for taking the time to break down these findings with me. These definitely add value to anyone listening, especially if you’re currently preparing your ecommerce business for sale. If you want to know more about Fortunet and their services, feel free to connect with Yael over on yael@fortunet.net.   Before we go, don’t forget that our limited-time offer of 50% off EcomCrew Premium ends tonight! If you think that unlimited 1-on-1 email support, a wealth of ecommerce courses and resources, and exclusive expert-led webinars will help you take your business to the next level, head over to ecomcrew.com/premium right now to sign up. Use code: ECOMCREW50 to apply the discount.    Happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

There are a lot of marketing channels outside of the marketplace that you can take advantage of. One of the most popular ones? YouTube.   Today, we’ll be talking about how you can optimize your YouTube channel to boost your brand’s visibility and keep that flywheel going, and we’ll use actual before-and-after data from our own channel to demonstrate how much these strategies work.    I’m excited to be joined today by one of our very own team members from the Philippines, Hannah. She has been doing great work with us for a couple of years and she now leads our writing team as well as our prepping and survivalism brand.    Hannah will go over the specific techniques that they used to optimize our own Tactical YouTube channel, with some real-world metrics to boot.    If you’re currently doing YouTube or are planning to use it as a content and marketing tool in the future, I’m sure you’ll find this episode to be very insightful.    Audio Timestamps:  Doing a video analysis - 10:22 Nailing down your keywords - 11:32 Creating a keyword-optimized titles - 14:54 Writing an SEO-friendly description - 16:52 Adding Info Cards and optimized video tags - 23:47 Having an eye-catching thumbnail - 27:22 Our actual before-and-after stats - 31:56   I’d like to thank Hannah for doing this episode with me. I’m excited to have our other team members come on the show to give you valuable insights into various aspects of running an ecommerce business. By the way, don’t forget to sign up to our Black Friday waitlist to avail of EcomCrew Premium at 50% off (Discount applies to all plans). Premium is about solutions and actionable advice to help ecommerce sellers not just navigate, but dominate the marketplace.    We offer unlimited 1-on-1 email support from two 7-figure sellers alongside a wealth of ecommerce resources you won’t find anywhere else. Take your business to the next level and join our waitlist here.   Until the next one, happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

This episode is an addition to our mini series with different ecommerce aggregators who are always on the lookout for potential brands to acquire.   Andrew and Alaina are the CEO and Head of Brand Marketing of Suma Brands, respectively. Their company focuses on buying and growing Amazon FBA and direct-to-consumer businesses.   Today, I get to pick their brains on the biggest things that ecommerce aggregators look for in a brand, as well as the things that they consider huge red flags when evaluating potential acquisitions.    If you’ve ever courted with the idea of selling your ecommerce business or are planning to sell a couple of years from now, this episode will add a lot of value to you.    Timestamps: Introduction to Suma Brands - 4:19 Suma’s core philosophy and their deal structures - 6:13 What Suma Brands looks in businesses - 16:08 #1 Brand magic #2 Product reviews and social proof #3 Opportunities and brand evangelists #4 Proven history of growth #5 Opportunity The value of a having a repeat customer base - 21:30 Which things turn ecommerce aggregators off - 23:59 #1 Fake reviews and suspicious metrics #2 Not having a differentiated product #3 Low margins  #4 No lifetime value Why work with Suma - 36:24   I hope you learned as much as I have from Andrew and Alaina. I definitely can’t wait to have them back on the show perhaps a year from now to discuss how much their company has grown. If you’re interested in starting a conversation with them regarding your brand, feel free to shoot them an email on:   acquisitions@sumabrands.com andrew@sumabrands.com alaina@sumabrands.com   Speaking of brands, now is as good a time as any to start thinking of differentiating your products and developing your brand identity. EcomCrew Premium can help you with that.    For a limited time only this Black Friday and Cyber Monday (November 26-29), we’re offering EcomCrew Premium at 50% off. Slots are limited, so be sure to sign up to our active waitlist so you don’t miss a beat.    As always, happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

Mike and Dave talk about the end of off-Amazon rebates and coupons and what they think sellers across the white-hat-black-hat spectrum will be doing moving forward.   You really can’t predict what Amazon will do next these days. One minute I make a prediction that they won’t ban rebates because it makes them money, the next minute they’re bringing the hammer down on RebateKey.   In this episode, Dave and I will break down Amazon’s latest policy drop regarding off-Amazon rebates and coupons, what the next white-hat and black-hat tactics are likely going to be, and how you can still succeed on Amazon moving forward.    Timestamps: Why the FTC might consider rebates as review manipulation - 5:22 What the Amazon policy update means for sellers - 7:09 The future of RebateKey and rebates in general - 12:19 How much data Amazon has on its users and which data it tracks - 19:50 Will Amazon start banning sellers for using rebates? - 25:29   EcomCrew blog articles mentioned:  Amazon Official Kills Rebates: What Does It Mean? Amazon Has 1.28GB of Personal Info on Me - Here’s What’s In It   If you’re interested in building reliable outside assets like content sites, email lists, and influencer partnerships, our book, Amazon Domination, is the best place to start. If you get your copy now, the book is on us for free (just pay for shipping).   Fun episode with Dave as usual, and there’s a lot more where that came from. For a limited time only this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we’re treating our podcast listeners to EcomCrew Premium at half-off. That’s 50% off all EcomCrew Premium plans available only between November 26th-29th.    The waitlist is currently live and the limited slots will be on a first come, first served basis. Head over to ecomcrew.com/blackfriday to secure your spot!   If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike looks under the hood of Michael Simpson’s niche ecommerce business to determine his biggest growth opportunities.   Growing an ecommerce business can be daunting, especially when you’re looking at a number of angles to grow, but you have limited physical and financial capacities.    In this edition of our Under The Hood series, Michael Simpson picks my brain about how he can grow his thriving ecommerce business despite the limited bandwidth.    Some of the opportunities we look at are transporting his website into Shopify and expanding into Amazon FBA, building a team to re-optimizing listings and handle day-to-day operations, and developing his brand. These strategies apply to most ecommerce businesses, so this episode should help you focus on the right growth opportunities as you scale your business.    Courses mentioned: From 0 - 100: FBA For Absolute Beginners   I hope you found a lot of value in this episode, and we’ll definitely have Michael back on the show down the road to discuss how far his business will have come along then.    In case you missed it, our EcomCrew Premium Black Friday/Cyber Monday waitlist is already live! It’s only going to be open from November 26-29, so if you’re down for some heavy discounts to join Premium, head over to ecomcrew.com/blackfriday to sign up.   Lastly, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Until the next one, happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

Mike, Dave, and Steve take a break from attending the Indian Wells to talk about the future of Amazon and how the ecommerce landscape is changing.   Greetings from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden!   On this rare occasion that Dave, Steve Chou, and myself got together, we decided to sit down and talk about all the things that have been going on in the world of Amazon and what it means to be an ecommerce seller today.    In this episode, we talk about Amazon’s huge policy drops on rebates and giveaways. We also give our personal takes on the current review and ranking system and why sellers and brands use rebates in the first place.    We then move on to discuss Amazon’s future direction in broad strokes, particularly with regards to it being both a marketplace and a seller at the same time, and how it tends to give itself an unfair advantage over third-party sellers on the platform.    If you’re looking to just relax and listen to a fireside chat between three ecommerce sellers who’ve been in the game for a while now, this is the episode for you.    Timestamps:   Why Amazon shut down Elite Seller and RebateKey - 7:42 The current review and rating system on the Amazon marketplace - 19:48 How Amazon creates an unfair advantage for itself over third-party sellers - 22:36 What the landscape looks like for new Amazon sellers moving forward - 32:03 The perks of having your own website - 37:25 How we deal with Amazon issues and seller support - 45:48   I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Dave and Steve as much as I have. Be sure to check out Steve’s other awesome content over on My Wife Quit Her Job, and we’ll definitely have him back on the podcast soon.   On the topic of Amazon, we’re still giving away free copies of our book, Amazon Domination, which is a non-nonsense, step-by-step guide to launching your next #1 Amazon Best Seller. Again, the book is free (just pay for shipping and handling). Grab yours here.   If you haven’t already, leave us a review over on iTunes and let us know what you think of this episode. As always, happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

Today, I’m excited to be doing another Under The Hood episode, which, for new listeners, is an hour-long coaching call with a fellow ecommerce business owner that we turn into a full-fledged podcast episode to help other sellers that might have the same questions and pain points.    My guest is John Terry, who is one half of an interesting mom-and-son business, Ketonia. Their company is a thriving online keto bakery that sells products like a delicious Keto Coconut Macaroons mix.    In this episode, John picks my brain on how to scale his business further, including managing traffic between an Amazon store and a brand site, the value of outsourcing tasks to a VA, and even strategies as the ecommerce space becomes more inflationary.    Timestamps:   How John got into ecommerce - 1:18 Why you want to have traffic coming into your own website - 16:53 Which things to optimize if you’re a smaller online business - 26:22 Which tasks entrepreneurs can outsource to virtual assistants - 31:00 How to measure the success of your influencer outreach - 36:08 Mike’s main strategies in this current inflationary environment - 50:19 The potential of selling your brand to a rollup down the road - 54:00   I had a great time talking to John, and I hope he and his mom can come back for a sequel episode so we can learn how far their business has come along in a year or so.   Before we go, don’t forget that if you’re an Amazon FBA seller based in Canada, you can get a chance to win a 1-year EcomCrew Premium membership absolutely free by just completing a quick 2-minute survey. Just head over to ecomcrew.com/poll2021. Good luck!   If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to iTunes and leave us a review. Until the next one, happy selling!

Mike and Melanie of AVASK talk about what sellers need to know before expanding their ecommerce businesses to Europe and other markets abroad.   Many sellers think that selling or expanding into the EU is a nightmare, what with the language barriers and different compliance requirements. I myself have done it in the past and found it quite difficult.   That being said, my guest today, Melanie Shabangu, will help me debunk common myths all of us might believe about selling in the EU, and she’ll explain exactly how to keep an ecommerce business profitable when expanding abroad.    Melanie is a tax expert and ecommerce accountant for AVASK, an accounting firm that specializes in helping ecommerce sellers expand their businesses into Europe, the UAE, and even Australia.    In this episode, I have the pleasure of picking her brain about what selling in the EU is like, especially for those who have little to no experience with it. We’ll be talking about myths that might be putting off a lot of US sellers from selling in the EU, VAT and other compliance requirements, and the overall economics of selling in markets abroad.   Timestamps:    Introduction - 0:00 Introduction to Melanie and AVASK Accounting - 1:35 Myths you might believe about selling in the EU - 2:35 The basic economics of selling in the EU - 4:46 How much it costs to translate an Amazon listing - 13:54 What is Value Added Tax? - 26:53 What your costs could look like with VAT - 27:56 Standard compliance requirements when expanding into European markets - 32:45   I want to thank Melanie for all the valuable stuff she shared today. I definitely wish I knew all of these before trying to sell abroad—I hope it motivated you to give it a shot as much as it did me.   If you want to learn more about what we discussed in this episode, shoot Melanie an email at melanie@avaskgroup.com or contact their expansion team at expansion@avaskgroup.com.   On the topic of selling across borders, we’re running an exclusive giveaway for our friends in Canada. By answering our quick 2-minute survey over on ecomcrew.com/poll2021 you get a chance to win a full year’s worth of EcomCrew Premium membership absolutely free! This grants you access to all our courses, past webinars, and direct email support from Dave and myself. Good luck!   As always, please leave us a review over on iTunes if you haven’t already. Until the next one, happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!

John Li and Mike talk about the newest trends that PickFu has observed over hundreds of thousands of AB Tests done on their platform.   PickFu is a customer insights platform that acts as a digital focus group for ecommerce sellers who want to run tests, say A/B testing a product image, and get customer feedback on product listings.    My guest for this episode is John Li, who is a Co-Founder of PickFu and knows the ins and outs of customer research.    I’ll be picking his brain about the key insights that he’s gotten from the thousands of tests that sellers have run using PickFu, including the testing strategies that big ecommerce rollups use to optimize their listings.    Throughout the episode, he’ll be showing me specific examples of optimized listings and we’ll be breaking down which elements have the most impact on sales and conversions. If you’re tuning in through an audio-only channel, be sure to check out this episode over on the EcomCrew YouTube Channel and our new dedicated EcomCrew Podcast Channel for clips and episode highlights.   Timestamps:   Introduction - 01:00 John’s insights on how sellers have done testing over the years - 02:50 Actual examples of optimized listings - 07:25  Why you should test early - 21:17 The different responses you get for running consumer insights tests - 26:15 Using open-ended ways to get feedback - 29:37   I want to thank John for the strategies and actionable stuff he shared in this episode. We’ll definitely have him back for more insights as the market develops. If you want to learn more about customer research or run your first test using PickFu, head over to their website and use discount code: ecomcrew to get 50% off your first poll.   By the way, if you’re selling on Amazon out of Canada, we’re currently running a giveaway exclusively for you. By answering our quick poll over on ecomcrew.com/poll2021 you can get a chance to win a full year’s worth of EcomCrew Premium membership, which is valued at $1499, absolutely free!    If you haven’t already, please leave us a review over on iTunes. It helps more than you know. Happy selling and we’ll talk to you soon!