Dave interviews his good friend Ronnie Teja, a well-connected figure in digital marketing, to talk about the 3 online business models that rewards the most while hurting the least. We also talk about which ones are the best to start in terms of capital, and why they're worth it.    Happy new year everyone!   Today's episode is sponsored by Omnisend. Check them out today!    In today's episode, Dave actually flew over to Thailand and recorded this episode in person with his good friend Ronnie Teja to share his insights on living and working in Thailand full-time, the tax implications of running a business around South East Asia, and how much it costs to run a business from one of these countries.    The Big Takeaway:

• E-commerce, content, and SaaS each have unique advantages and challenges.
• Living in Thailand offers both benefits and drawbacks for entrepreneurs.
• Starting with e-commerce can be viable with a small budget.
• SaaS businesses can yield higher multiples on exit compared to e-commerce.
• Building a community can enhance business opportunities.
• High-ticket items often provide better margins in e-commerce.
• Iterating on SaaS products is more feasible than on physical products.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Introduction to Ronnie Teja and His Ventures
• 02:48 - E-commerce, Content, and SaaS: A Comparative Overview
• 06:10 - Living and Working in Thailand: Pros and Cons
• 08:59 - Tax Implications and Business Registration in Thailand
• 11:47 - Choosing the Right Business Model: E-commerce vs. SaaS vs. Content
• 15:05 - The Future of E-commerce and SaaS Businesses
• 17:55 - Navigating the Challenges of E-commerce
• 20:52 - The Role of AI in Software Development
• 24:05 - Building a Community and Audience for Business
• 27:00 - Final Thoughts on Business Strategies and Models

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

Dave reviews the top 5 episodes of 2024 and what they're about. Check out the top 5 episodes of the year! We've included a snippet of each episode and links to them below. 

Merry belated Christmas and Happy Early New Year! 

This week, we're rounding out our top 5 episodes of the year along with a short snippet of the episode itself. Feel free to go back and listen to the winners on our links below: 

• 0:57 - Fifth place 
• 2:47 - Fourth place
• 5:07 - Third place
• 7:07 - Second place
• 10:32 - First place 

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

 

Today's episode is part 2 of last week's podcast, where Mike goes into the details of Icewraps' sale, how he built up profitability from being in a loss at the start of the year, and the mindset he had during negotiations. 

Today's episode is sponsored by Autron. Maximize your ROI with Autron’s real-time algorithmic bidding, optimizing every ad dollar for smarter spending and higher returns. Start optimizing today and get 30% off for 3 months!

It's been nearly 10 years since I first bought IceWraps. 

After a long journey of facing Amazon's sudden fee increases, COVID and logistical challenges, I felt that it was time for me to take some chips off the table and finally sell off the last ecommerce business that I'm holding. 

It's time for me to get some breathing room back, and move on to another project. 

Takeaways

• Raising prices and cutting unnecessary costs helped turn the business from a loss to being profitable.
• Transitioning to AWD reduced storage costs significantly.
• When you have the mindset of being done and over a business, you might be willing to do all it takes to sell. However, it's important to maintain a two-way street and make sure you don't accept terms that seem unfair. 

Timestamps

• 00:00 - The Journey of Selling Ice Wraps
• 03:07 - Challenges Faced During the Sale
• 05:56 - Turning the Business Around
• 09:13 - Cost-Cutting Strategies
• 12:08 - The Sale Process and Negotiations
• 15:02 - Finalizing the Sale and Transition
• 17:55 - Reflections on the Sale
• 20:59 - Lessons Learned and Future Outlook

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

Mike and Dave talk about the current environment of software tools in the ecommerce space; how it's grown, the leaps and bounds made throughout the years, and the pitfalls of some of these changes.

2022 has been a year of changes and innovations in the software space, and EcomCrew is once again polling sellers to find out the Best Amazon Seller Software across five categories:

1. Keyword and Product Research
2. PPC Management
3. Reimbursement Services
4. Repricing Tools
5. Product Launches

By simply telling us what you think and completing the survey, you’ll get a chance to win a free Annual EcomCrew Premium Membership valued at $2000. Head over to ecomcrew.com/softwarepoll to cast your vote!

For this episode, Dave and I will talk about all the new and popular tools (including ones that Amazon launched just this year) at a high level to give you a rough idea about where the whole seller software ecosystem is headed in the coming years. In a few weeks, we’ll be doing a follow-up episode to talk about the poll results and why sellers think the winning software are the most important for an ecommerce business.

Timestamps:

• Intro and catching up — 00:00
• What EcomCrew’s’ annual software poll is all about — 3:14
• Significant innovations in terms of Amazon software — 7:58
• Areas of improvement for “AI” software — 10:20
• Have Google and Facebook tried to resist these new tools? — 13:00
• Has the average budget for seller software gone down significantly? — 17:58
• Why Amazon is rolling out its own seller tools — 20:34
• How to vote on EcomCrew’s Software Pool — 23:02

Don’t forget to cast your vote over on ecomcrew.com/softwarepoll and get a chance to win an annual EcomCrew Premium membership free for your troubles. 

Also, don’t forget to follow and leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy all our content. It helps more than you know.

Until the next one, happy selling!

About 18 months ago, Jodie Cook sold her business and wrote a book about the ten-year journey that led her there. She has determined the four main steps that help entrepreneurs achieve financial freedom without sacrificing personal time.

 

Timestamps:

• Jodie’s e-commerce background - 2:40
• The framework of The Ten Year Career - 4:39
• How ego keeps your business from growing - 7:18
• How to get from Execute to Systemize - 7:56
• The upside of delegating - 11:29 
• How to know when you’re on the Scrutinize step - 13:45 
• How to prepare for the best possible exit - 15:22 
• What pushed Jodie to sell her business - 21:44
• The wrong reasons to exit your business - 24:40

 

You can check out Jodie’s book, The Ten Year Career: Reimagine Business, Design Your Life, Fast Track Your Freedom on Amazon. It’s a great addition to any online business owner’s bookshelf. You can also find out where you are in your career by taking the quiz on the book’s companion site.

 

By the way, EcomCrew Premium is still at 50% off until midnight. This is your last chance to register during our biggest sale of the year, so don’t miss out! Visit our website to secure your slot.

Starting an Amazon business today is a completely different ball game compared to starting to sell in 2015. These days, you'll need more than just good-looking listings and great copy to hit that highly 7 or 8-figure revenue milestone.

 

I've invited fellow MDS member and 8-figure seller Talor Zamir to tell us exactly how he's built multiple businesses up to the 8-figure mark, how he got started in the ecommerce industry and the valuable lessons he's learnt along the way. He's also got some tips in store for those of you who are thinking of starting something new for 2023. 

 

Don't have the time to listen through the whole episode? We've got you covered. Here's some of the highlights from the episode: 

• Introduction to Talor Zamir - 1:22 
• How Talor differentiated products in his first business - 9:45 
• What Talor's best performing businesses had in common - 15:53
• Talor's Differentiation Strategy #2 - Earning your customers trust - 18:52 
• Why Mike started the Ecomcrew Podcast - 25:13 
• Talor's Differentiation Strategy #3 - 27:23 
• How much time Talor spent between selling and starting businesses - 29:25 
• What Talor's working on currently - 34:00 

 

The lessons here are definitely something everyone should take into consideration before starting your business. No matter how attractive it might seem to sell any product with a high search volume, the riches are in the niches and the best niches are the ones where you can see yourself as the ideal customer. 

 

This advice may seem obvious to the experienced seller, so I'll echo out a piece of advice for those with mid-sized businesses: do a lot of thinking time. Spend some time outside of the daily work to-do list to think about what you can do to take your brand to the next level. 

 

I won't spoil anymore for the episode, but hopefully this convinces you to listen through the whole thing. However, if you're more interested in what Talor has to say after hearing his story, check out the Peak Performance Life Podcast where he speaks with physical and mental health experts on how you can start prioritizing your health better. 

 

Lastly, big things are happening this week with EcomCrew Premium. We’re going to be launching for the last time in 2022, and this is going to be our biggest sale ever! On top of the heavily discounted rate, we’re giving an additional 20% off to those who register for our waitlist.

October was a busy month for both me and Dave as we work on preparing for Black Friday and making more improvements on all our brands. On top of that, we’re also getting ready for 2023, so it’s no surprise that we’ve run into some challenges along the way.

 

In particular, we’ve been dealing with Amazon’s new inventory storage limits that affected most of our brands. In this episode, we talk about how we’re dealing with that and a few things we’ve been implementing to increase our sales and conversion. For more information, check out our October 2022 Brand Report.

 

Here are the episode’s highlights:

• Amazon Inventory Storage Limits and the percentage of sellers affected - 3:20 
• Our theory on why Amazon imposed inventory limits despite the abundance of warehouse space - 7:10
• How our inventory levels are doing with the new limits - 11:20
• EcomCrew Premium Black Friday Launch - 14:35
• Using Join Brands to increase conversions - 19:50
• Justifying ad costs and small improvements for your brand - 22:40
• How our site traffic improved by using AI - 28:10

 

We’re going to be discussing more about how we significantly improved our sites’ traffic using AI in our public webinar tomorrow, November 22 at 10 AM (PST). We’re doing a roundup of all the most effective and advanced strategies we’ve used during the year and show you how you can apply them to your own brands. Make sure to register to save your seats.

 

Lastly, big things are happening this week with EcomCrew Premium. We’re going to be launching for the last time in 2022, and this is going to be our biggest sale ever! On top of the heavily discounted rate, we’re giving an additional 20% off to those who register for our waitlist.

 

Mike talks to the co-founder of Avataar, Gaurav Baid, about the future of ecommerce through the lens of Augmented Reality and how you can enhance the customer experience through AR.

 

Gaurav is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Avataar, a company that aims to bridge the gap between retailers and their customers to create a unique interactive shopping experiences for customers through Augmented Reality. 

 

In this episode, our discussion mainly revolved around these 4 points: 

• The questions that AR can provide to improve Customer Experience
• The unlimited future possibilities of AR and contextual reality
• How creating content with AI is a struggle
• Being the first to adapt will give you a generational advantage
• The statistics of AR's effect on Ecommerce
• The evolution of advertisements through Augmented Reality 
• The costs of AR and today's capabilities 

 

After everything you've heard today, you might be interested in checking out Avataar. Check out Avataar if you're interested in helping customers visualize your products in their personal spaces. 

 

On another news, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be opening EcomCrew Premium on Black Friday for the last time this year. And of course, we’re saving the best for last by giving you our biggest discount yet. For an even more special offer, sign up for our waitlist today. It’s open only once a quarter, and there’s no better time to register.

 

Do you have any thoughts about our podcast? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Mike speaks to Will Haire of BellaVix about some last minute tactics you can incorporate into your business before the biggest sale of the year -- Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. 

 

The biggest online sales event of the year is coming, and we’re here to help you prepare your brand to make the most out of it. I’m joined by Will Haire of Bellavix to talk about the most important aspects of your business you should be looking at.

 

Here are the episode’s highlights:

• Will’s ecommerce background - 3:21
• What businesses should be preparing for during BFCM - 4:28
• Preparing your site and product listings - 9:46
• The importance of going for longtail keywords - 14:38
• How to encourage user-generated content without violating Amazon’s TOS - 15:12
• Will’s main image horror story - 18:20
• Black Friday EcomCrew Premium opening - 23:05
• How to prepare enough inventory for Black Friday - 25:25
• Some hard truths about selling on Amazon - 29:00
• Are labor issues affecting Amazon’s warehousing problems? - 32:10
• Will’s advertising advice - 33:35

 

Will is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bellavix, a full-service management agency. Check out Bellavix if you need assistance in managing and growing your business on Amazon or Walmart. They specialize on category domination and cater not only to third-party but also to first-party sellers.

 

On another news, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be opening EcomCrew Premium on Black Friday for the last time this year. And of course, we’re saving the best for last by giving you our biggest discount yet. For an even more special offer, sign up for our waitlist today. It’s open only once a quarter, and there’s no better time to register.

 

Have any thoughts about our podcast? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Mike talks to long-time Premium member Jamie Graham about restructuring the business and moving towards the EOS model, which entails moving from a high-level Amazon director position to a Training Manager, to spend less time on the business.

 

Jamie Graham is a Premium member that I was able to meet in an MDS event back in 2018. He and his wife Kayleigh own a beauty brand that’s grown up to 6 million pounds in revenue, with a profit margin of 10%.

 

In this episode, the majority of the discussion was focused on these four points:

• Restructuring to focus on what you enjoy the most
• Restructuring an ecommerce department: by marketplace or by discipline? 
• Creating a 3-year business plan and how to incentivize employees to stay on track
• Focusing on growing the off-Amazon channel of the business

 

Jamie and I also went over how close he is to making a life-changing amount of money as he approaches the endgame with almost 5 years in the business and 7 million pounds of revenue every year. 

 

If you’re interested, you can check out the previous Under the Hood episode here. I’m looking forward to hearing back from Jamie over the next couple of months. With Q4 coming into full swing in just a few weeks, he’ll definitely be having his hands full.

 

Under the Hood is a segment where we do an hour-long coaching call with one of our listeners. We take a look at their businesses, provide honest feedback, offer our best business advice, and answer whatever questions they have. In exchange for the free coaching, we will turn the call into a podcast episode so that our community can benefit as well. It’s a win-win!

 

Get more information about Million Dollar Sellers on EcomCrew.com/MDS.

 

Finally, if you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

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 is back on the podcast to look back on IceWraps' journey, from facing burnout to regrets from running more than one brand at a time. 

Today's episode is sponsored by Autron. Maximize your ROI with Autron’s real-time algorithmic bidding, optimizing every ad dollar for smarter spending and higher returns. Start optimizing today and get 30% off for 3 months!

Takeaways

• Selling at the peak of your business can mean sacrificing future cash flows.
• Focusing on one business can lead to greater success.
• Running multiple brands at a time can dilute your effectiveness.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - The Journey of Ice Wraps: A Decade in E-Commerce
• 08:02 - Lessons Learned from Selling Ice Wraps
• 15:59 - Defining Success: The "One Thing" Focus
• 21:49 - The Transition: From Acquisition to Sale

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

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!

Learn how to take advantage of Amazon’s livestreaming feature with tips from Wizards of Ecom’s Carlos Alvarez.

 

Earlier this year, we got fellow podcaster Carlos Alvarez to share his personal and ecommerce journey with us – you can listen to that episode here.

 

Now, he’s back on the podcast to talk about a topic I wish we could’ve unpacked sooner: Amazon Live!

 

Launched in 2019, this feature isn’t totally new but not all Amazon businesses use it, myself included. This conversation might just be the push I need.

 

Carlos is here to walk us through the process of getting started on this and why brands should hop on the livestreaming bandwagon.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode:

• Intro - 0:00
• An overview of Amazon Live - 3:22 
• The impact of Amazon influencers - 6:25
• Improving your livestream with hardware - 8:51
• Requisites to use Amazon Live - 10:17
• A boost in exposure - 11:52
• Setting expectations as a new user - 14:09
• Understanding the demographic - 17:17
• Carlos’ personal experience with Amazon Live - 19:02
• Tips on how to create a great livestream - 21:22
• Get in touch with Carlos - 26:52
• Putting in the work - 30:08

 

Carlos, thank you for coming again on the podcast and sharing your time with us. Our discussion got me excited to try out Amazon Live for my own brands.

 

For those who have any questions for Carlos, feel free to send him a DM on Instagram @wizardsofecom. If you’ve already listened to the episode, you’d know that Carlos has generously given out his phone number as well. But serious queries only, please!

 

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!

Mike and Dave ponder EcomCrew’s early years as they bid a bittersweet goodbye to the company’s first employee.

 

July was an interesting month. For me, my top line number went down, but my bottom line number went up – thanks to reduced PPC costs, raised product prices, and AGL.

 

Dave, on the other hand, rants about the ridiculous sales tax being imposed on businesses based in British Columbia.

 

We also discuss our takes on 3PL, which Dave and I are approaching very differently: I’m slowly weaning off of it, while Dave is heavily reliant on it (for an inevitable yet valid reason).

 

In more devastating news: Abby, EcomCrew’s employee #1 and brand manager is leaving us. This was bound to happen eventually, but it still feels very sad that it's actually happening.

 

That concludes our July Brand Report. It’s definitely going to be challenging without Abby and we’ll miss her for sure, but that’s life. We wish her all the best in her journey.

 

We never have enough time on the podcast to cover everything in our Brand Report, so if you want to see the full-length report, check out the blogpost here.

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!

Mike is joined by 101 Commerce founder RJ Jalichandra as he talks about the growing pains of being a pioneering FBA aggregator and where the industry might be headed in the coming years.

 

If you’re well versed in the wider ecommerce landscape, you’d know that the FBA aggregator or acquisition industry have become a lucrative business in recent years.

 

RJ is the founder of 101 Commerce, which is considered the first FBA aggregator with institutional backing. Before names like Thrasio went big, there was 101 Commerce.

 

RJ's been on the podcast before, when 101 Commerce was just getting started, and so I thought RJ would be a great resource person to talk about the ins and outs of being an FBA aggregator, how the business works and the current environment of the industry.

 

If you want to listen to our first episode together, you can find it here.

 

Learn about the FBA Aggregator Space in these highlights:

• Intro - 0:00
• The genesis of 101 Commerce - 5:16 
• What kind of businesses do aggregators look for? - 12:17
• Challenges of being an aggregator - 14:20 
• RJ’s retiring and unretiring - 16:00
• Getting back into ecommerce - 15:27
• The aggregator business model and its challenges - 19:41 
• The learning curve - 23:28
• The future of the aggregator space - 26:05 
• What’s next for RJ? - 31:19 
• Connect with RJ - 33:16

 

Thank you so much for your time, RJ. It was nice to catch up and chat a bit about the inner workings of the aggregating business.

 

If you need advice on how to sell your brand, you can message RJ on LinkedIn. You can also check out Incline Capital’s website for more information on their services.

 

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!

In this episode, Dave recaps Amazon Accelerate 2024, highlighting some announcements that sellers should know about, and some developments that impact e-commerce sellers. 

Amazon Accelerate 2024 has just wrapped up this year, and there's been a few announcements that Amazon revealed that may or may not pass the smell test.  

In the online event, Amazon announced a range of new programs and services to help brands build relationships with third party sellers and increase their sales and profitability.

Apart from the announcements, Amazon is also making a big push to being a part of the entire supply chain process - from logistics to delivery. 

The Big Takeaways of Today's Episode

• Amazon Accelerate is the biggest event of the year for Amazon with over 4,000 live attendees and 450,000 virtual views.
• Amazon receives over 125 million product reviews annually.
• Same-day or next-day delivery 2x conversion rates.
• A new seller dashboard is available and offers better analytics for sellers.
• Live chat support is now available for all cases.
• One-on-one assistance is also now available for sellers.
• Amazon is starting to focus on owning the entire supply chain process - from logistics to delivery. 
• Buy with Prime aims to capture off-Amazon sales.

Amazon Accelerate Episode Timestamps

• 00:00 - Overview of Amazon Accelerate
• 01:17 - Key Statistics and Announcements
• 04:40 - Positive Developments for Sellers
• 11:44 - Skepticism Towards Amazon's Announcements
• 16:27 - Amazon's Supply Chain Strategy

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

In this yearly review episode, Dave gives an update on how his brand’s been doing the past year, from feeling the fallout of a post-pandemic market to increased competition in the niche.

 

I did the first one of these annual reviews on July 17, 2017. It’s kind of surreal how fast time flies. I’ve always enjoyed these because it makes me take an objective look at my brand.

 

Businesses in certain niches certainly benefited from the lockdown, us included. With people choosing to do more outdoor activities then, we saw a spike in our sales the first two years into the pandemic.

 

However, as the world slowly opened up again and travel resumed, our revenue went down. I’m sure other businesses in this niche are experiencing this as well.

 

The past year wasn’t all that bad though. We had our losses, but we had awesome wins too. I’ve also set some goals for the company that I hope will come to fruition in the coming months.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode: 

• Intro - 0:00
• June 2022 revenue - 2:52
• The Covid bump - 3:31
• Increased competition - 6:17
• Decline in TACoS - 8:56
• Our massive hit product - 12:29
• Finding a good fulfillment system in Canada - 15:30
• New hires from the Philippines - 16:30
• Developing a custom inventory software - 17:40
• Our losses the past year - 19:20
• My goals for the next 12 months - 21:25

 

That’s it for my year-in-review podcast episode. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you were able to take away a thing or two from this brief discussion.

 

I also did a blogpost where I elaborate more on these points in detail over at ecomcrew.com. Go check it out and leave a comment. I’d love to know what you guys think.

 

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!

Taking a more proactive approach, Mike and Dave talk about the measures they’ve taken to prepare for less-than-ideal market conditions in this Brand Report episode.

 

As we’ve mentioned in our previous episodes, Dave and I spent a good chunk of June in the Philippines spending time with our employees there.

 

We also made good headway on the content website we are launching this month–yes, this month! After several setbacks, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

For me, I worked on improving my margins, which included taking out an Amazon loan and fully transitioning to AGL. It’s definitely a tedious process, but worth it.

 

If you listened to our May Brand Report podcast, you’ll recall that one of Dave’s brands had an IPI score teetering below the required threshold. He’s got an update on that one.

 

Let’s get into our latest Brand Report, shall we? Check out the highlights from this episode:

 

• Intro - 0:00
• Our revenue for June - 2:32
• Average margins in ecommerce - 4:59
• The impact of the declining economy - 6:18
• Gearing up for the worst - 10:14
• What we worked on in June - 12:44
• The reason behind our new content website’s delay - 15:08
• Our game plan for the launch - 17:30
• Transitioning exclusively to AGL - 20:19
• Dripping in LCL inventory via AGL - 25:07
• Amazon’s new growth program - 30:25
• An update on Dave’s IPI score - 32:37

 

That’s it for our June Brand Report. After several delays, I’m so happy to say we’re almost at the finish line. We can’t wait to finally show you our new content website in the next few days!

 

In the meantime, you can check out the blog counterpart of the Brand Report here if you want a more detailed account of what we did last month.

 

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!

Here’s a reality check: there’s more to life than just money. Amazon seller and aspiring personal development coach Jonathan Jesper shares his story of grit and resilience.

 

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I am very much aware of how unstable and unpredictable life in the business can be. The journey is never linear.

 

Fellow Vegasite Jonathan Jesper, who has never had a job, has been an entrepreneur his whole life – and he’s no stranger to failure.

 

He lived in a van straight out of high school; went to college and then dropped out; and eventually, as he described, “failed into ecommerce.”

 

Jonathan’s life as an entrepreneur is quite the story. From selling flowers at high school graduations to running his own Amazon business, he certainly knows the hustle.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode: 

• Intro - 0:00
• Background on Jonathan - 2:16
• Jonathan’s early years as an entrepreneur - 3:20
• Benefits of traveling - 6:19
• Being “stuck” in our beliefs - 7:32 
• Transitioning to ecommerce - 9:46 
• Inventing a market - 13:04 
• Dealing with failure - 16:01
• The relativity of success - 20:42 
• The blueprint of life - 23:16
• Connecting the dots - 30:36
• Helpful resources - 34:14

 

That was a great and insightful conversation, Jonathan. Thank you for coming on the podcast. This episode is a reminder that it’s important to reevaluate what success means to us. 

 

Speaking of success, if you want some tips on how to build a successful Amazon business, EcomCrew Premium is open to new members until Friday. Sign up now to get all the cool perks.

 

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!

 

The results are in! In this episode, Mike and Dave unpack their recently concluded Amazon Consumer Behavior survey, which includes a shocker you’ll want to know.

 

Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a survey to pick the brain of today’s Amazon consumer a little bit – to better understand their purchasing habits.

 

What pushes a consumer to check out an item? Which matters more: star rating or number of reviews? With the findings, we hope sellers can leverage them to improve their strategies.

 

We also found out something that we’ve somewhat always suspected. You’ll want to stick around till the end. It’s quite the bombshell. But don’t skip!

 

These are the highlights from this episode:

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• The most important buying holiday - 3:45
• The deciding factor to make a purchase - 7:50
• Good star rating vs number of reviews - 10:12
• The impact of reviews - 13:40
• Do badges matter? - 18:20
• Sponsored products - 22:45
• The real reason why buyers return products - 27:05
• The impact of returns on ranking - 34:38
• Shoutout to the team - 36:10

 

We hope you learned a thing or two from our survey. Of course, I can’t end this without recognizing the hard work of our team. This would not have been possible without them.

 

Mind you, we only covered a small portion of the survey, so if you want to see the full report, you can check out www.ecomcrew.com/amazonreport.

 

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!

According to Jungle Scout’s new report, Amazon seems to be making very good money on advertising. Mike unpacks the report with Jungle Scout's Jake Corkin.

 

Personally, I’ve been using Jungle Scout for several years and I’ve found it to be a great tool for any ecommerce business.

 

We’re also grateful to have worked with them as affiliates for a while now. We’ve even had their CEO on the podcast.

 

For this episode, we have their Director of Product, Jake Corkin. Aside from his full-time position at Jungle Scout, he also sells on Amazon as a side business.

 

Just recently, Jungle Scout released an Amazon Advertising Report for 2022 and I thought it would be great to dive into this with Jake.

 

Here are the highlights from this episode.

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• A brief background on Jake - 1:00
• Jungle Scout’s new capabilities - 2:30
• Dissecting the Amazon Advertising Report - 8:00
• The difficulty of launching a new product these days - 12:17
• Consumers’ preferred ad type - 13:44
• ROAS changes - 17:05
• The value for sellers in this report - 18:43
• Most and least competitive categories - 20:14
• Predictions and strategies - 22:16
• The equalization of ad spending - 24:22
• Where you can view the report - 29:26

 

You can read Jungle Scout’s Amazon Advertising Report in full detail over on their website. Jake, thank you for coming on the podcast and sharing your insights with us.

 

If you want to give Jungle Scout a try, you can sign up through our affiliate link and get a sweet deal on a subscription of your choice.

 

You know the drill, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike is back with EcomCrew’s podcast manager Ben for a light yet informative Q&A session on keeping profits high and costs low amid inflation.

 

After recording this episode, I thought it would be nice to have Ben be in front of the camera more often and be a regular on the podcast.

 

In this new Q&A series, Ben will be asking me a bunch of questions on how to run a successful ecommerce business and I will do my best to answer them as exhaustively as I can.

 

This episode is all about costs and profitability. With Covid-related challenges to consider and inflation in full swing, we thought this was a highly important subject to kick things off. 

 

Here are the highlights of this episode.

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• Getting to know Ben - 2:13
• What are the several costs that eat into a ecommerce business' monthly net profit? - 3:58
  
• How Amazon fees affect profit margins - 6:46
  
• The struggle of maintaining profit in ecommerce - 11:00
• Will Amazon fees stop increasing eventually? - 14:23
• Raising prices to keep up with inflation - 16:04 
• Helpful tools to gauge costs and profitability - 18:43
• Finding opportunities in ecommerce - 23:10
• Which one should you consider first, product or profit margin? - 24:08
• Affiliate marketing vs ecommerce from Mike’s POV - 26:14
• What to expect in the next Q&A episodes - 31:32

 

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!

From finalizing a soon-to-be-launched content website to releasing a new cockroach product, Mike and Dave unpack a hectic May in this Brand Report episode.

 

Aside from our recent trip to the Philippines (which you can know more about here and here), May was quite an eventful month.

 

Revenue-wise, there was a slight increase from April by almost $70,000. If we’re talking about individual brand progress, there was a fair share of wins and losses.

 

IceWraps saw a big gain, while Offroading Gear and BTG Gear were down roughly 10% compared to May last year.

 

In May, we worked with our developer on the finishing touches for our new content website. Slight hiccup though, the launch is delayed by a week at least. But we’re still eyeing a July date!

 

For Dave, he recently rolled out a ‘cockroach’ product that sold out in a couple of days. If you’re curious to know what this is, you’ll have to sign up for Secret Sauce.

 

On the other hand, the IPI score of one of his brands dropped below the required threshold, which could result in inventory restrictions. But Dave’s not too worried about it.

 

Listen to the podcast to know more about what went down in May. Check out the highlights from this episode:

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• How was May overall? - 2:45
• The ups and downs of being an entrepreneur - 5:08
• The seasonality of products - 7:49
• Raising prices - 10:49
• Computing COGS - 13:09
• A quick runthrough of our wins - 19:22
• Dave hiring new people for his brand - 25:07
• Dave’s new cockroach product - 27:40
• The cockroach method and why it works - 29:15
• How Dave dealt with his brand’s IPI score dropping - 32:03
• Amazon’s excess space issue - 33:59

 

That’s it for our May Brand Report. It’s been a busy couple of months. I expect it’s going to be even busier as we near the launch of our new content website. Wish us luck!

 

If you want a more detailed breakdown of what we discussed in this episode, you can check out the blog post of the report here.

 

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!

Fresh (yet possibly still jet lagged) from their trip to the Philippines, Mike and Dave unpack their takeaways after reuniting with the team.

 

It finally happened–we made it to Cebu! Dave and I aligned our travel dates so that we’d have a few days to spend with the EcomCrew team while we were there.

 

It’s been three years since I last saw some of them (most I haven’t met in person at all), and it was Dave’s first time in Cebu, so we were pretty excited to say the least.

 

While it was definitely great to finally be back, this visit was also bittersweet because we recently lost a dear member of our Terran family.

 

If you’re curious to know more about what we did while we were in the bustling metro of Cebu, tune in to the podcast. Here are the highlights of this episode:

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• First impressions of Cebu - 1:06
• Transiting through Manila - 3:06
• Our jeepney adventure with the team - 5:06
• How Mike spent his time in Cebu - 8:28
• Dave on getting things done - 11:36
• The shift in the country’s employment landscape - 13:49
• Figuring out what else we can offer our employees - 19:50
• Pros and cons of frequent meetings - 23:14
• Problems we overlooked and uncovered - 27:06
• Musings on life - 30:21
• What we have planned for EcomCrew - 35:53

 

Although I wish this trip happened under better circumstances, I’m still very grateful that Dave and I finally got to see our PH team again. We’ll definitely do our best to make this an annual thing.

 

We’ve got some exciting plans for EcomCrew and the podcast but we can’t reveal them just yet. For now, make sure to tune in to our upcoming episodes for updates!

 

As usual, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike sits down with EcomCrew’s Podcast Producer, Ben, to talk about his recent trip back to the Philippines, the value of facetime with your employees, and our big plans for the company moving forward.

 

I’m in Cebu for a couple of weeks!

 

Over this short but fun period, I saw old friends again after the pandemic and got to meet new ones whom I've only ever spoken to on Zoom. I had a genuinely fun time being back to the Philippines after several years.

 

Joining me for this episode is our very own podcast producer, Ben. Ben has been with us for over three years and has done amazing work taking the EcomCrew Podcast to the level it’s at now. 

 

Today, we’ll be talking all about how much the pandemic affected our work environment, our big plans to give you more awesome content over the coming years, and why we bully Steve Chou a lot :)

 

If you’ve ever thought of building or growing your own Philippine team, this episode should be doubly insightful for you.

 

I wanna thank Ben for doing this episode with me. I really enjoyed my short stay here in Cebu and we can’t wait for you guys to see everything EcomCrew has in store in the coming years. 

 

If you haven’t already, please leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and I’ll see you on the next one!

Mike talks to Paul Okhrem, the co-founder of a global ecommerce consultancy company in Ukraine, on what it’s like to maintain operations even amid the escalating conflict.

 

What’s happening in Ukraine is heartbreaking. Who would’ve thought that an invasion could happen even in the 21st century?

 

I figured the least we can do is provide a platform to shed some light on the situation there from a local’s perspective, which is why we have Paul Okhrem on the podcast. 

 

Paul is the COO and co-founder of Elogic Commerce, a consultancy company with offices in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe.

 

In our conversation, Paul shares his firsthand account on the situation in Ukraine, Elogic’s emergency response, and how the invasion affected the ecommerce industry there.

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• Elogic’s response when news of the invasion broke - 1:51
• The resilience of the Ukrainians - 8:28
• How Elogic’s clients reacted - 9:53
• The IT talent in Eastern Europe - 10:48
• Ukraine’s progress over Russia - 11:53
• How the invasion affected Rozetka, Amazon’s Ukrainian counterpart - 13:41
• The importance of having a contingency plan - 15:46
• Elogic’s services - 19:47
• Elogic’s clients - 20:05
• Ukraine’s ecommerce industry - 20:48
• How to reach out to Elogic - 22:51
• Standing with Ukraine - 23:57

 

Paul, thank you for taking the time to be on the podcast and sharing your experience with us. We hope to hear good news soon. Stay safe and keep in touch. 

 

For more information about Elogic’s services, you can visit their website. If you just want to learn more about ecommerce, you can check out their blog.

 

As usual, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

In this episode, Dave talks about how Temu is pressuring Amazon with its low prices, fast shipping and surge in popularity.

Ever since Temu's viral marketing ad in the Superbowl, they've grown to become one of the biggest competitors to Amazon. 

But how is Temu able to offer lower prices compared to sites like Amazon and even eBay?

It has something to do with its business model and the fact that it lacks a few key features of other e-commerce sites. But is there more to it?

In this episode, we'll talk about how Temu has disrupted the e-commerce space, how Temu keeps its products cheap, and how they cut costs. 

The Big Takeaways of Today's Episode

• Temu has disrupted Amazon's dominance in the North American e-commerce market.
• Temu is able to offer fast shipping times because of their logistics model that mirrors Amazon's FBA.
• The Chinese government may be indirectly supporting Temu's growth by heavily supporting exports.

Temu Prices Episode Timestamps

• 00:00 - Introduction to E-commerce and Temu
• 02:54 - Temu's Disruption of Amazon
• 05:45 - Logistics and Shipping Innovations
• 09:03 - Pricing Strategies and Market Competition
• 11:50 - Government Subsidies and Economic Implications
• 15:08 - Amazon's Response to Competition
• 18:02 - Conclusion and Future Outlook

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

Mike and Dave talk about their wins and losses in April, as well as exciting updates on their not-so secret project, including an official launch date.

 

It’s time for another Brand Report! Compared to March, there’s a slight decline in last month’s revenue numbers. But that’s not to say April was all bad.

 

April was a hectic month for me. After over six months of working with several developers, we finally got to launch Tactical.com’s new look, which I am very happy about.

 

Dave also shares about a recent oopsie doopsie he had with one of his product listings and accidentally changing the price from $199.99 to $19.99. Yikes.

 

An exciting update on Knitting.com: Hannah (our first new hire) flew in to record some videos with us. I don’t know how we did it, but we managed to script and record around 20 videos.

 

We’re also eyeing to produce at least 10 products. While I’m not confident we can make it this year, Dave is willing to air freight everything just so we can make it in time for the holidays.

 

Here are the highlights from this episode, including the launch date for the Knitting.com content website!

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• Reconnecting in person, and meeting the team - 1:11
• April’s revenue numbers - 3:14
• A deeper dive into Dave’s revenue numbers - 4:25
• Tactical.com redesign - 9:53
• Challenges of website development - 12:42
• Recording videos for Knitting (and the launch date) - 15:48
• The content plan for Knitting - 16:04
• Dave’s pricing oopsies - 20:48
• An attempt to lower insurance costs for Dave’s products - 23:21
• Product development for Knitting.com - 27:34
• Wrapping up - 31:42

 

That’s it for our April Brand Report. Revenue is a little flat, but it was a productive month nonetheless. Here’s to hoping May will be better.

 

When this episode is out, I’ll probably be in Cebu by then. While I’m there with the team, we’ll be recording a few episodes for the podcast so stay tuned for that.

 

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!

Will Performance Max replace all singular campaigns? Mike chats with Brett Curry of OMG Commerce about Google’s latest campaign type feature.

 

There’s no debate on how efficient and incredibly convenient Performance Max is. It’s a unified campaign for multiple channels rolled into one.

 

However, there is a common misconception that it replaces your existing campaigns. While it will partially cannibalize some of them (more on this on the podcast), this is not the case at all.

 

In fact, Brett tells us that reps from Google had explained to him that Performance Max is designed to complement and not replace the campaigns you’re already doing.

 

It definitely requires some getting used to initially due to some differences in structure and language, but if you’re looking for new customers, a Performance Max campaign will do the job.

 

Thank you for being with us on the podcast, Brett. As always, it’s a pleasure to chat. I hope to see you again later this year; if not, maybe at the next Sellers Summit!

 

If you’re interested in working with Brett and his brilliant team of marketers, go to the OMG Commerce website and click on the ‘Let’s Talk!’ button on the top right corner of the home page. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike talks to Seller Universe Ecommerce Group CEO Martin Zerrudo about Amazon DSP and how brands can successfully leverage ads with it.

 

A relatively new system, Amazon’s demand-side platform (DSP) analyzes consumer data and finds the right customers to target ads with. 

 

Unlike Facebook or Google ads, DSP gives you access to a wider network of third-party sites and reach people both on and off Amazon, albeit a pricier option.

 

A fair warning: doing ads with DSP can get very granular and specific, which can be intimidating to those unfamiliar with it. However, it can be highly effective when executed correctly.

 

I tried out DSP ads last year with IceWraps and although we didn’t get the results we wanted, I still think it’s a great system.

 

We have Martin with us today to give us better insight into how the system works and what makes it a formidable tool for ecommerce brands.

 

Martin, thank you for coming on the podcast and for sharing that message from August. It means a lot to Dave and I.

 

If any of you listening to this episode is interested in trying out DSP ads, go to the Seller Universe website and fill out the contact form.

 

Don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Dave goes through the top third-party sellers on Amazon, what products they sell, how much they make in revenue annually, and what their business models are.

 

At the start of the year, we began working behind the scenes on producing regular reports on top third-party sellers on Amazon.

 

Since Amazon doesn’t release reports on third-party sellers, we had to develop a way to harness this data ourselves. 

 

After months of research, we’ve managed to come up with a methodology that produces more or less accurate results.

 

Analyzing the sellers’ profiles, you see how vastly different their business models are. Some on this list are straight resellers, others are private label brands.

 

The product categories run the gamut too, from beddings and houseware to pharmaceuticals and electronics.

 

As we continue this series, we look forward to featuring new third-party sellers on the list and gain some insight into their business models.

 

That wraps up this episode of the podcast. 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!

 

Join EcomCrew Premium

In other (exciting) news, registration for EcomCrew Premium will be open starting May 17 midnight! Join the Premium ‘Crew and get access to cool perks such as exclusive webinars and unlimited email support from Mike and I.

 

Registration will be open for only a week and slots are limited so make sure to sign up as soon as you can! For more information about EcomCrew Premium, visit www.ecomcrew.com/premium.

In this episode, Mike delves into subscription boxes and why it’s an effective business model, featuring special guests Paul Chambers and Chris George of SUBTA.

 

From food items to lifestyle products, subscription boxes have become quite the trend in ecommerce the past few years. 

 

Chris George and Paul Chambers got their start in ecommerce with Gentleman’s Box, a subscription service for men’s lifestyle products that they started in 2014.

 

In 2020, they exited the business and co-founded Subscription Trade Association or SUBTA, with a third partner, John Haji. 

 

SUBTA aims to foster a sense of community among entrepreneurs in the subscription industry and promote healthy competition in this space.

 

From their humble beginnings with Gentleman’s Box to the founding of SUBTA, here are the highlights from our conversation:

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:25
• History of Gentleman’s Box - 3:50
• Dynamics of creating subscription boxes - 7:50
• Production cycle of these boxes - 10:33
• Factors to consider if you want to get into subscription boxes - 15:00
• Finding your audience - 19:15
• Exiting Gentleman’s Box - 22:23
• Recent news in the subscription box space - 28:20
• About SubSummit - 29:055

 

Chris and Paul, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast and sharing your story with us. 

 

For anyone interested in going into subscription, SUBTA will be having its annual SubSummit on June 1-3, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. Head on over to the SubSummit website for more details.

 

If you want to learn more about the subscription industry, SUBTA has free and premium plans where you can get access to educational resources. Click here to learn more.

 

As per usual, feel free to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

In this episode, Mike is joined by Spencer Jan of Solo Stove to talk about the evolution of ecommerce through the years and how innovation drives it forward.

 

After hearing him speak at eCommerceFuel Live last March, I invited Spencer Jan to be on the podcast to expound on a particular point in his presentation that struck me the most: innovation.

 

Spencer is the co-founder of Solo Stove, a company he started way back in 2010 in a garage. After exiting the business, he is now focused on helping other entrepreneurs build their own brands through informative content.

 

During our quick conversation, Spencer and I were able to cover a bit more ground about his journey and thoughts on the future of ecommerce. Here are the highlights from the episode:

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• Spencer’s early years in ecommerce - 3:36
• Choosing to focus on Solo Stove - 7:50
• The ‘dopamine hit’ of starting something new - 11:40
• Keeping up with the times - 13:53
• Innovation as a force in ecommerce - 15:31
• How ecommerce has evolved since he started - 20:08
• Differentiating yourself from the competition - 26:13

 

Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Spencer. I hope to see you at Sellers Summit. If you guys want ecommerce-related videos, make sure to check out Spencer’s YouTube channel.

 

Don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

For this episode of Under The Hood, Mike gives advice to Lisa Guenst–dental hygienist and owner of ToothShower, an innovative dental water flosser–on how to boost sales and get a business ready for selling.

 

Over two decades of working as a dental hygienist, Lisa Guenst noticed how a lot of patients she encountered hated using string floss. 

 

However, part of her profession is advocating for oral health, so as an alternative to help prevent gum disease, she always suggested using a water flosser instead.

 

While she did see significant improvement in her patients, they did complain that most water flossers were cumbersome and quite messy to use.

 

This was the impetus behind Lisa creating ToothShower, a water flosser that is powered by your own shower – no need for batteries or for plugging into an outlet.

 

After launching a Kickstarter campaign in 2017, the company and its flagship product (now with an impressive range of accessories) have become quite the lucrative business.

 

Pre-Covid, ToothShower had been selling exclusively on its website. It wasn't until the pandemic that ToothShower transitioned to being an Amazon business. 

 

Thus, Lisa sought our help on how to navigate the unique challenges that come with being an FBA business, especially for a product that’s as disruptive as ToothShower.

 

From refining your Amazon listing to optimizing SEO, I guide Lisa in increasing her sales and getting her business ready for selling when she decides to exit down the line.

 

That’s it for this week’s podcast. If you want to be featured in our next Under The Hood episode and get advice from us firsthand, fill out this form and we’ll check it out.

 

Also, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Welcome to the podcast edition of Brand Report! In this series, we share with you our revenue across all our brands every month, so you can see what we did wrong and what we did right. 

 

In February, we raked in a total of  $621,816, compared to March's revenue numbers, where we broke past the $700,000 barrier. IceWraps continues the upward trend in sales, but one thing remains to be a source of difficulty: logistics.

 

All in all, several factors played into this outcome, but the increase in freight rates continues to be a headache.

 

That’s it for our Brand Report for March 2022. While we’re certainly hoping for better days, March was definitely the best so far.

 

If you want to see a more detailed and comprehensive breakdown of our revenue numbers for the past few months, check out the blog post up on our website.

 

Don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Tune in next month for our April Brand Report. Till then, happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

A lot has happened since the big announcement about Knitting.com. It went viral, but not for the right reasons. In this episode, Mike and Dave set the record straight.

 

Shortly after we released the blog post and podcast about Knitting.com, we got into hot water with members of the knitting community.

 

While we’ve gotten some pretty harsh comments, we’ve also received helpful advice from knitters that we will definitely implement as we grow this business.

 

Looking back, we realized that there were certainly points we could’ve articulated better, but there’s no point in dwelling in the past.

 

In this podcast, we hope to shed light on our business plan and hopefully, clarify some details. 

 

Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• What happened after we announced Knitting.com - 0:38
• How our message was interpreted - 3:26
• What we could’ve done better - 7:03
• The significance of local yarn stores in the knitting community - 10:57
• Our approach to Knitting.com - 12:47
• The business plan - 17:45
• Our goals for the business - 25:11
• What we’ve been up to lately - 30:12
• The impact we hope to make with Knitting.com - 31:53

 

When we launch Knitting.com later this year, we hope to put out a content website and a lineup of quality products that hopefully novice knitters will find useful and beneficial.

 

That’s it for this week’s episode. Feel free to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike is joined by Carlos Alvarez, an elementary school dropout who, years later, would exit a business for 2.6 million dollars.

 

This week on the podcast, we have the founder of Wizards of Ecom, Carlos Alvarez. If there’s one thing Carlos and I have in common, it’s that we've beaten the odds. As school dropouts, we’re not expected to succeed in life. But after a few years of grit and hard work, here we are. 

 

Carlos has quite the story to share with us today, from dropping out of school at the age of 10 and getting scammed by a non-existent Alibaba supplier to exiting a business selling insects and founding a successful ecommerce academy. Needless to say, his journey is quite the ride.

 

Audio Timestamps:

• Intro - 0:00
• Hustling at a young age - 4:00
• The importance of education - 8:35
• “Touching the stove” and learning from it - 10:23
• Staying ahead of the curve - 14:16
• Saving for a rainy day - 16:57
• Finding motivation to keep going - 22:32
• Work-life balance and burnout - 25:36

 

That’s it for this week’s episode. Carlos, thank you so much for coming on the show and telling us a little bit about your incredible story. I hope to have you again here in the future.

 

In the meantime, tune in to the latest episode of the Wizards of Ecom podcast featuring yours truly, which comes out on the 28th.

 

Don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

 

In this episode, Mike Jackness interviews Michael Kaufman – the CEO of ProTuff Products. We talk about Kaufman's journey in the e-commerce industry, how he differentiates his products by offering an extended warranty and how lifetime warranties guarantees 5 star reviews.

How to Find a Profitable Product Course Open Now

Still struggling to find your next great product? The EcomCrew How to Find a Profitable Course is open now and is just $499 for one week only. We’ll cover everything from using the ‘Cockroach approach’ to developing large and bulky products, avoiding placement fees, and more. Check it out now.

How Do You Use Lifetime Warranties To Guarantee 5 Star Reviews?

As a shopper on Amazon, you've probably bought something that have warranty cards as a part of the products' insert. 

But most companies don't stand behind their warranty policy, or they just straight up have flimsy policies. 

Having a lifetime warranty means that you'll have to approve every warranty that comes in, no matter what. However, the bright side to this is that this almost always guarantees a 5-star review since you will actually be standing behind your own warranty policy. 

The Big Takeaways of Today's Episode

• Offering a lifetime warranty can help differentiate your products and build a solid review profile.
• Automating the warranty registration and claim process can save time and money, since you don't have to hire someone to approve warranties.
• Selling seasonal products can be challenging, but offering incentives for early registration and extending the product's use for other purposes can help mitigate the seasonality.
• Building a list through warranty registration is a TOS-compliant way to communicate with customers on Amazon.
• Choosing the right warranty duration and offering additional benefits can encourage customers to register and leave positive reviews.

Lifetime Warranties Episode Timestamps: 

• 00:00 - Introduction and Small Talk
• 03:14 - ProTuff Products and the Pool Tools Niche
• 11:29 - Differentiating Products with a Lifetime Warranty
• 18:10 - Building a List through Lifetime Warranty Registration
• 21:03 - Incentivizing Lifetime Warranty Registration and Positive Reviews
• 26:57 - Streamlining Warranty Management

As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested. 

Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can. 

Thanks for listening!

Until next time, happy selling!

 

Welcome to the podcast edition of our February Brand Report! Each month, we’ll break down our monthly revenue so you can see what’s working and what’s not. 

 

February’s revenue was $621,816, which is roughly equal to that of January, and we dive into what exactly affected our revenue: what we worked on, our wins, and our painful losses. Dive into each section here: 

 

• Intro - 0:00
• Impact of increasing shipping rates on sales - 1:45
• Finding a middle ground to keep your business sustainable - 4:47
• Raising prices to compensate for higher shipping costs - 7:40
• Disruptions due to global events - 9:18
• Pros and cons of Amazon Global Logistics - 10:05
• Hybrid shipping style - 13:20
• Brand Report proper - 14:25
• Using BSR to gauge impact of price changes - 16:15
• Working with influencers - 18:20
• Things that went well in February - 22:00
• Things that didn’t go as well - 24:00

 

That’s it for our Brand Report for February. If you want to see a more detailed and comprehensive breakdown of our check out the blogpost up on our website.

 

Don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our podcast. Tune in next month for our March Brand Report. Till then, happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike and Dave discuss quite the polarizing topic: cryptocurrency – and how it might revolutionize the financial industry in the future.

Our topic for today is not totally in line with ecommerce, but a bunch of you guys requested it so here we are: Ecomcrew’s one and only episode on cryptocurrency.

The subject is especially interesting since Dave and I aren’t exactly on the same team when it comes to this one, even though we both have experience investing in it.

For this episode, we break down some of the ambiguities surrounding cryptocurrency, how we think it’ll impact the business landscape, and whether or not it’s worth investing in.

Although, just a quick disclaimer: this episode is not, in any way, us giving financial advice; rather, simply our two cents on the matter at hand.

Timestamps: 

• Using cryptocurrency to buy domains - 2:13
• A gray area in sales taxation - 4:45
• Mike’s investment in cryptocurrency - 10:18
• Dave’s qualms about cryptocurrency - 19:55
• How the Internet changed and disrupted businesses - 24:54
• Day trading cryptocurrency - 30:57
• Investing in Bitcoin - 38:08
• The importance of timing in investment - 44:54

Whether or not you choose to invest in cryptocurrency, just remember to never put all your eggs in one basket. After all, risk is part of being in business.

That’s it for this week’s episode. Feel free to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Mike is joined by Mediavine’s Eric Hochberger to talk about how enhanced privacy and data protection is affecting ecommerce and the future of advertising.

 

Consumers are becoming more wary and on edge about online security and keeping their data safe. Developers address this concern by doubling down on data privacy and limiting ads, albeit, at the expense of businesses’ efforts to reach potential customers.

 

In this episode, I talk to Eric Hochberger, who runs the ad management company Mediavine, about how these changes and consumer concerns will impact profit and shape the direction of advertising.

 

Audio Timestamps: 

• Intro - 0:00
• Eric Hochberger’s background in the industry - 2:07
• What Mediavine does - 3:04 
• Alarm Grid - 3:55
• Repercussions of enhanced privacy on businesses - 5:34
• A common misconception of consumers regarding privacy - 7:58
• Curating ads based on users’ interest - 10:52
• Possible impact on monetization - 14:48
• Amazon and Facebook advertising - 17:14
• Staying nimble and adapting to the market - 20:06
• Trellis by Mediavine - 23:54

 

Thank you for coming on the podcast, Eric. If you’re planning to get a website running or already have an existing one that needs an update, check out Trellis by Mediavine. It’s a WordPress framework optimized for speed, which I tested out myself and can vouch for.

 

If you'd like to try out Trellis for yourself, Eric and the Mediavine team have been gracious enough to offer a discount for all Ecomcrew listeners. Use the coupon code SAVE20TRELLIS for 20% off your first year of Trellis.

 

In other news, we’ve got a Secret Sauce webinar coming up on the 16th. This month’s mini class is all about making incremental product improvements for big returns. Check out the linked page for more information about the latest course and the topics that we’ll be covering.

 

That’s it for this week’s EcomCrew Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, show us some love by leaving a review over on iTunes. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!