Ask me anything about eCommerce (Ongoing)

[RisingStars]

Hello biophase,

2) I've watched a video about selling on amazon and the speaker had a (in my opinion) really nice way to kickstart his product:
1: Get your product in FBA and let 10-25 friends buy it and write a review.
2: Use Facebook ads and get a leadpage + squeezpage to make a 1$ giveaway in exchange for a product review and give away as many products as you would consider enaugh.
Note: I've not yet created the leadpage but basically the ad would say 1$ giveaway for X product. He targeted a big group of ppl and after 1 hour he had around 30 sales. People click on the ad and enter their email on the squeezepage. After that they get a coupon code to their email adress to buy the product for 1$. Later the buyers will get a reminder mail to write the review.
3: Use amazon ppc.

What do you think of this way to get reviews? Are you familiar with step 2 or did you maybe even used this method yourself?
I am thinking about leaving the fb ad on after the giveaway only with the real price in and retargeted to a more specific potential buyer circle.
What do you think about that?

I just found something out and maybe bio knows more about this topic what he could add.
I was planning to set up a Super URL on my leadpage to optimize the keyword search ranking of my product.

Now I've read this article: http://www.sellerlabs.com/blog/super-urls-exposed

Bio do you know anything more about this? I really dont want my account get suspendet (I guess no one wants )
Would you take the risk using a super url or should I just go with the adviced amazon.com/dp/ASIN ?


Edit: Another thing what just popped in my head regarding to your last reply:
Amazon allows to put a review note in the product package. Would you advice to do so?

 

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[biophase]

I just found something out and maybe bio knows more about this topic what he could add.
I was planning to set up a Super URL on my leadpage to optimize the keyword search ranking of my product.

Now I've read this article: http://www.sellerlabs.com/blog/super-urls-exposed

Bio do you know anything more about this? I really dont want my account get suspendet (I guess no one wants )
Would you take the risk using a super url or should I just go with the adviced amazon.com/dp/ASIN ?


Edit: Another thing what just popped in my head regarding to your last reply:
Amazon allows to put a review note in the product package. Would you advice to do so?

Thanks for the article. I don't do my SuperURLs this way anyway. I just search for the product on amazon and use the URL that gets me to my product. This article is talking about using a Super URL generator that generates a fake URL that was never created by Amazon.

I would put something in the product that asks for feedback or communications if there are any issues. You cannot put anything that asks for a good review specifically. Whatever you put in, just make it look like part of the product. Add it to your instruction card or warranty card.

 

[Jarred]

Lots of extremely valuable information in this thread. Thank's for all of the insight!

 

[Mr_Maravish]

Hey Kenric,

What eCommerce platform/merchant services do use, and why do you choose those as opposed to others?

 

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[exclusives88]

@biophase

I have a product that has had about 6 complaints about it not lasting longer then a day. It is something that can be fixed (for example: the string is being ripped). I've been selling this product since July. From July until now, I sold 188 units with about 117 units from this month alone. October and September was low due to being out of stock. Most of these complaints came from this month so there could be more as they start using it.

I'm about to be out of stock again and I'm thinking if I should re-order or stop all together. The top seller on Amazon is doing only $3,700 in sales a month so the demand is not too high on these. Unit retail price is around $18. My profit after Amazon PPC is around $3 - 4. Is this even worth continuing after considering my defective rate?

 

[maximus20895]

Hey Kenric,

What eCommerce platform/merchant services do use, and why do you choose those as opposed to others?

He's mentioned it several times in this thread; Bigcommerce.

 

[Jake]

[ The top seller on Amazon is doing only $3,700 in sales a month so the demand is not too high on these.

Care to share where you got this number from?

Or is it a guess?

 

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[Mr_Maravish]

@biophase

I have a product that has had about 6 complaints about it not lasting longer then a day. It is something that can be fixed (for example: the string is being ripped). I've been selling this product since July. From July until now, I sold 188 units with about 117 units from this month alone. October and September was low due to being out of stock. Most of these complaints came from this month so there could be more as they start using it.

I'm about to be out of stock again and I'm thinking if I should re-order or stop all together. The top seller on Amazon is doing only $3,700 in sales a month so the demand is not too high on these. Unit retail price is around $18. My profit after Amazon PPC is around $3 - 4. Is this even worth continuing after considering my defective rate?

Well if you managed to sell 117 units in this month alone, times an average of 3.5 profit per unit, that's a profit of $409.50. Your "gold" would be to fix the "string" problem so you mark 1 thing off your competitive advantage list. The only reason you would even consider to drop this product is if it were a seasonal item which you don't think you could consistently sell that amount of units per month. You said it yourself that it can be fixed, so I would say continue to improve your product until it is better than your competitor's. Besides, the profit will just add to your bottom line. Just get a few more products to keep adding!

 

[exclusives88]

Care to share where you got this number from?

Or is it a guess?

Jungle scout. Also tracking it based on how many they sell in a period of time by seeing how many are available from day 1 vs day x

 

[biophase]

Hey Kenric,

What eCommerce platform/merchant services do use, and why do you choose those as opposed to others?

I use bigcommerce. I think shopify is right there with them. Those are my top 2 carts. Then the others are a distant 3rd and beyond.

It's hard to say exactly why. But these two have the most features that I like, they have a lot of templates and apps. Pricing is ok, don't like their pricing structures.

 

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[biophase]

@biophase

I have a product that has had about 6 complaints about it not lasting longer then a day. It is something that can be fixed (for example: the string is being ripped). I've been selling this product since July. From July until now, I sold 188 units with about 117 units from this month alone. October and September was low due to being out of stock. Most of these complaints came from this month so there could be more as they start using it.

I'm about to be out of stock again and I'm thinking if I should re-order or stop all together. The top seller on Amazon is doing only $3,700 in sales a month so the demand is not too high on these. Unit retail price is around $18. My profit after Amazon PPC is around $3 - 4. Is this even worth continuing after considering my defective rate?

Well are you going to improve it when you order more? If not, then scrap it.

 

[biophase]

Jungle scout. Also tracking it based on how many they sell in a period of time by seeing how many are available from day 1 vs day x

I don't trust those numbers for any of those software programs.

 

[exclusives88]

I don't trust those numbers for any of those software programs.

Really? I find it pretty accurate when I use it on my listing. I know it's not perfect but close enough.

I also add my competitors product to my cart and change quantity to 999 units. If they are carrying less, Amazon will tell you how many are for sale. This helps me gauge how many they sell. Of course this number can be over stated if they did a promotion or understated if they added more to inventory. Overall this analysis plus junglescout gives me a good idea

 

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[biophase]

Really? I find it pretty accurate when I use it on my listing. I know it's not perfect but close enough.

I also add my competitors product to my cart and change quantity to 999 units. If they are carrying less, Amazon will tell you how many are for sale. This helps me gauge how many they sell. Of course this number can be over stated if they did a promotion or understated if they added more to inventory. Overall this analysis plus junglescout gives me a good idea

When I run it on mine it makes no sense. They probably pull data on Amazon in stock quantity changes like what you do manually.

 

[Cembo]

Hi biophase,

I have a couple of products that are unique and sell really well. The only problem is that I don't grow as fast as I want because it's getting harder to find new products. Do you think I should add some ordinary products to my product line even if they don't differ from other products on the market?

 

[faromic]

When I say I make my own product, I just mean that I import my own product. I don't physically make anything. I choose new products to import, I don't just import a product that a factory current makes, I make changes to it.

So you choose a product or products from alibaba or amazon that are currently selling and make changes to them based on customer reviews? What are the criteria for your changes? What is the investment up front to have the manufacturer you're working with iterate on a design with you? Do you have several iterations and samples sent over?

 

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[RisingStars]

Hello Biophase,

I have another question regarding a question I asked way earlier in this thread:
I asked what skills you outsource and what things you do yourself.

Today I was wondering which skills do you think are useful to become successful in ecommerce?
Based on your previous answer I came up with these skills already:
-programming
-product photography
(payroll)
(taxes)
(importing stuff- duties etc.)
(logo)

Another thing you didnt mentioned is copywriting, I think you write your describtions yourself, right?

Which recources do you recommend to learn: copywriting, programming, product photography?
http://www.dict.cc/englisch-deutsch/resources.html
Are there any other skills that would be useful to learn?

Thanks

 

[PatricianCat]

Hello Biophase,

I have another question regarding a question I asked way earlier in this thread:
I asked what skills you outsource and what things you do yourself.

Today I was wondering which skills do you think are useful to become successful in ecommerce?
Based on your previous answer I came up with these skills already:
-programming
-product photography
(payroll)
(taxes)
(importing stuff- duties etc.)
(logo)

Another thing you didnt mentioned is copywriting, I think you write your describtions yourself, right?

Which recources do you recommend to learn: copywriting, programming, product photography?
Are there any other skills that would be useful to learn?

Thanks

Obviously I'm not as skilled as Bio when it comes to eCommerce but I have taught myself copywriting.

I read a few different books and did a couple of things:

1. Read Cashvertising by Whitman...it serves as a great jumping off point and leads a trail of breadcrumbs to some pretty great books (Psychology of Influence)
2. I read Psychology of Influence by Cialdini...not because I thought it would be a good choice but because my father who was in sales his whole life gave me it a couple years ago and it was on my shelf. Highly recommended!
3. The Boron Letters - Halbert....This is a copywriting classic. An amazing amount of information and knowledge in one short book. It really gets you thinking on what it possible in the world of business. This book would help ANYBODY!
4. Gary Halbert's newsletter....I just started reading those until I got really into making copywriting work and then dove in head first.

Note: I did not do The 30 Day Challenge.

I wrote copy for free for non-paying clients. Mainly new businesses to help lift the weight of writing good copy off their shoulders in exchange for building a portfolio.

I also put together a nice swipe file at home. This is really underrated and Halbert suggests that you do it. Halbert also suggests that you read a bunch of books which I didn't. If you need to learn more, you should read those. If I ever go back to doing it for clients I would probably pick some of those up!

I landed a few copywriting gigs with some clients and all of them (only 3 lol) have reported that their products that they are selling on their website and on Amazon are now converting better! So this way works! It is one of those things that you just need to practice, practice, practice.

I hope that helps!

 

[RisingStars]

Obviously I'm not as skilled as Bio when it comes to eCommerce but I have taught myself copywriting.

I read a few different books and did a couple of things:

1. Read Cashvertising by Whitman...it serves as a great jumping off point and leads a trail of breadcrumbs to some pretty great books (Psychology of Influence)
2. I read Psychology of Influence by Cialdini...not because I thought it would be a good choice but because my father who was in sales his whole life gave me it a couple years ago and it was on my shelf. Highly recommended!
3. The Boron Letters - Halbert....This is a copywriting classic. An amazing amount of information and knowledge in one short book. It really gets you thinking on what it possible in the world of business. This book would help ANYBODY!
4. Gary Halbert's newsletter....I just started reading those until I got really into making copywriting work and then dove in head first.

Note: I did not do The 30 Day Challenge.

I wrote copy for free for non-paying clients. Mainly new businesses to help lift the weight of writing good copy off their shoulders in exchange for building a portfolio.

I also put together a nice swipe file at home. This is really underrated and Halbert suggests that you do it. Halbert also suggests that you read a bunch of books which I didn't. If you need to learn more, you should read those. If I ever go back to doing it for clients I would probably pick some of those up!

I landed a few copywriting gigs with some clients and all of them (only 3 lol) have reported that their products that they are selling on their website and on Amazon are now converting better! So this way works! It is one of those things that you just need to practice, practice, practice.

I hope that helps!

Thank you for this whealth of information.
I've noted down your book recommendations.

Would be interesting to hear if bio did the same amount of learning copy for his ecommerce stores like you.

Thanks again

 

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[PatricianCat]

Thank you for this whealth of information.
I've noted down your book recommendations.

Would be interesting to hear if bio did the same amount of learning copy for his ecommerce stores like you.

Thanks again

I wouldn't be surprised! The guy is brilliant! However, from what I have noticed, Biophase's products are simply much better than his competitions. If you have a product that is that good you can basically put all the reasons it crushes your competition while focusing on benefits and the product and reviews will speak for themselves.

Something key I've learned from reading these great eCommerce threads is that the products and reviews will speak for themselves if they are unique and an improvement over the competition. As MJ says, "Product is the fire, let the marketing be the fuel."

Best of luck! If you are looking for more copywriting information check out @SinisterLex 's "Make Money Copywriting in 15 Days or Less"! I forgot to mention that was my starting point.

 

[FitFreeFam]

Hi Biophase,

first off all, thank you very much for your priceless information. I read this 3d twice, and i have found ton's of value.

I'm a complete newbie in this world, and would be very helpful receive some suggestions from very experienced person like you.

I have a question: I've found a niche that fulfill a need in the area where i am living. I studied the niche and the "pains" of the existing products on the market and now after several survey, based on the answer of the people, and also after reviewing ton's of amazon bad review, i'm rebuilding entirely the product, making a completely new and make my own brand. I've already found a manufacturer that will produce it.

I will start by ordering 50/100 pcs and give some to my friends/parents to test it and improve it. In the meantime i will take pictures of the product and start the website part.

Then my strategy will be to use adwords and send ppl to my landing page + using Amazon and as i read from your previous posts, you suggest to use PPC on it because is very easy to set up.

Now after some research and picked some information on this 3d, i arrived to the conclusion that i need to use a fulfillment company for shipping my product. My doubt now are:

• Should i just use one fulfillment company and they will ship worldwide, or i need a company in every country i want to ship?
• Let's say i live in X, and my production is in Y and the place of the warehouse is Z, how i can have control of my goods? I have to ship it first to me, check the products and then send to the fulfillment company?
• Based on your experience, how much maximum should be the shipping cost in % for make the business sustainable?
• Can you review my strategy and tell me if i'm missing something?

Thank you in advance.

 

[biophase]

Hi biophase,

I have a couple of products that are unique and sell really well. The only problem is that I don't grow as fast as I want because it's getting harder to find new products. Do you think I should add some ordinary products to my product line even if they don't differ from other products on the market?

This is hard to answer. I can see the merits on both sides and I can caught up in this also. On one hand you can import the same stuff everyone else is doing and import probably 50 products a year. Or you can methodically pick and choose and improve and import only 10-15 products.

This is what I may try this year. I will import the same stuff that everyone else is doing. Let's say I import 50 products. I would give them a new crappy brand name as I don't want to tarnish my current brand.

Some products will do great and some will be duds. The ones that do great, I will modify and rebrand on future orders. The ones that suck I will just let sell out. Maybe going this method I can get 25-30 products in my line instead of 10-15 at the end of the year.

 

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[biophase]

So you choose a product or products from alibaba or amazon that are currently selling and make changes to them based on customer reviews? What are the criteria for your changes? What is the investment up front to have the manufacturer you're working with iterate on a design with you? Do you have several iterations and samples sent over?

I make changes based on reviews and what I see can be improved. There is no criteria for changes. The upfront investment changes depending on the product. I have each iteration completed and sent over before I go to production.

 

[biophase]

Hello Biophase,

I have another question regarding a question I asked way earlier in this thread:
I asked what skills you outsource and what things you do yourself.

Today I was wondering which skills do you think are useful to become successful in ecommerce?
Based on your previous answer I came up with these skills already:
-programming
-product photography
(payroll)
(taxes)
(importing stuff- duties etc.)
(logo)

Another thing you didnt mentioned is copywriting, I think you write your describtions yourself, right?

Which recources do you recommend to learn: copywriting, programming, product photography?
Are there any other skills that would be useful to learn?

Thanks

I do not outsource much at all.

• -programming - I do this myself. self taught HTML, CSS by Google. I can do simple stuff like change templates and move stuff around.
• -product photography - I do this myself. Took 2 photography classes in 2010. Learned how to use a camera, bought lighting and backgrounds, learned photoshop
• -payroll - This is outsourced. Costs $50 a month, well worth the headache.
• -taxes - Pay taxes myself. Have an accountant do yearly taxes
• -importing stuff- duties etc. - I don't think you can do this yourself. I have a freight fowarder/customs company handle this
• -logo - usually have a contest on 99designs
• -copywriting - I write everything myself. I'm not great at this. I honestly don't think it's needed if your product is decent. It sells itself.

 

[biophase]

Thank you for this whealth of information.
I've noted down your book recommendations.

Would be interesting to hear if bio did the same amount of learning copy for his ecommerce stores like you.

Thanks again

I've read Cashvertising. That's the extent of my copywriting training. I know I need to improve in this area. I have an MS in Engineering so I write like an engineer. This means that I lay down the facts in a clear concise manner. I don't put much emotion into any of my copy. But this will depend on the product and your audience.

If I'm selling a TV, I'm a fact guy and would just spout off specs. I know this is what people like me want to see. But I'm sure there are people who want to know how awesome their friends will think they are if they bought that TV.

 

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[biophase]

I wouldn't be surprised! The guy is brilliant! However, from what I have noticed, Biophase's products are simply much better than his competitions. If you have a product that is that good you can basically put all the reasons it crushes your competition while focusing on benefits and the product and reviews will speak for themselves.

Something key I've learned from reading these great eCommerce threads is that the products and reviews will speak for themselves if they are unique and an improvement over the competition. As MJ says, "Product is the fire, let the marketing be the fuel."

Best of luck! If you are looking for more copywriting information check out @SinisterLex 's "Make Money Copywriting in 15 Days or Less"! I forgot to mention that was my starting point.

Because I am a fact guy. I don't like the marketing that focuses on emotion. So to avoid this I let the product speak for itself. I really hate the Samsumg commercials when they put down the Iphone. It's not that I love the Iphone. But I hate companies that need to do that to market. Just make your phone better. You never see an Iphone commercial put down another brand because they do not need to. In my opinion it makes your brand look weak if you have to tell someone it's better than another brand. You are basically admitting that you are losing in the market when you do that.

Below here, Audi is basically saying. Hey BMW, your cars were better than ours. But here's our A4 that is better than your BMW now, so Check.

 

[biophase]

I will start by ordering 50/100 pcs and give some to my friends/parents to test it and improve it. In the meantime i will take pictures of the product and start the website part.

Then my strategy will be to use adwords and send ppl to my landing page + using Amazon and as i read from your previous posts, you suggest to use PPC on it because is very easy to set up.

Now after some research and picked some information on this 3d, i arrived to the conclusion that i need to use a fulfillment company for shipping my product. My doubt now are:

• Should i just use one fulfillment company and they will ship worldwide, or i need a company in every country i want to ship?
• Let's say i live in X, and my production is in Y and the place of the warehouse is Z, how i can have control of my goods? I have to ship it first to me, check the products and then send to the fulfillment company?
• Based on your experience, how much maximum should be the shipping cost in % for make the business sustainable?
• Can you review my strategy and tell me if i'm missing something?

Thank you in advance.

1) Your website should be a one pager and send people to Amazon to buy your product. No need for anything more complicated at first.
2) Why can't you ship this product out yourself? Are you in the USA?
3) You only need one fulfillment company. They should be able to ship everywhere for you.
4) You should ship to yourself, then to Amazon FBA. Are you going to have a warehouse in addition to FBA?
5) There's no rule of thumb for shipping %. It just needs to be profitable at the end

What country do you live in?

 

[FitFreeFam]

1) Your website should be a one pager and send people to Amazon to buy your product. No need for anything more complicated at first.
2) Why can't you ship this product out yourself? Are you in the USA?
3) You only need one fulfillment company. They should be able to ship everywhere for you.
4) You should ship to yourself, then to Amazon FBA. Are you going to have a warehouse in addition to FBA?
5) There's no rule of thumb for shipping %. It just needs to be profitable at the end

What country do you live in?

Yes i built a landing page, with a call to action that send to my store on the website. So i need to change this and put my products only on Amazon?

I live in Indonesia, and actually to ship in the country is very cheap, but when i was looking for a shipping company like dhl or ups for the worldwide shipping the cost was crazy. My product is less then 1 kg and with the packaging will be not more than 50x50x50. (Just now i found a company that make warehousing & order fulfillment in my country, dunno if i can post the link) and seems the ideal solution atm. (I will contact them after i finish to write this post).

My question is: if i want to use either, my online store on my website and amazon, should i have another fulfillment company beside Amazon FBA?

Thank you

 

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[biophase]

My question is: if i want to use either, my online store on my website and amazon, should i have another fulfillment company beside Amazon FBA?

Thank you

If you want to ship international you do. I don't think FBA ships internationally.

 

[kwodzilla]

Thanks for doing this AMA biophase, I've read all the posts in your last one as well and you've provided a great deal of value.

What's your opinion on operating solely through Amazon? There is obviously less control since you are at Amazon's mercy and I'm sure you've heard the horror stories about sellers getting shut down for factors out of their control. As entrepreneurs we are risk takers and so there will always be inherent risk in what we do, but how do you weigh up the risk in this case? Are the risks too high to be operating solely on Amazon in your opinion?