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Can you solve this Amazon Seller mystery?

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I started an eCommerce business last year. Currently, my primary channel is Amazon. I have 3 products I'm selling through Amazon FBA. I plan to expand in the near future to Etsy, Ebay, and Shopify. My execution thread is here.

I've run into a weird problem that I'm hoping one of the Amazon veterans here on the forum can help me solve. Maybe @biophase, @Longinus, or one of the other Amazon pros can chime in with some insight.

Here's the issue. I launched a product on Amazon a month and a half ago. For a new product, I feel like it's been selling well (50 units), with a decent conversion rate (8%) on, in that period, 630 sessions. Currently, I'm generating leads through Amazon PPC and Google Ads.

Sales have been growing--until this past Saturday (4/6/19). Since Saturday, according to Amazon reporting, there have been 80 sessions but no sales. Other products in my account continue to sell.

I'm no mathematician, but with a conversion rate of 8%, the odds of no sales over 80 sessions seems vanishingly small. What has happened?

I haven't changed the product listing at all. There seem to be no noticeable changes with the competition. I haven't changed my ad copy either. Could there be something that has happened behind-the-scenes at Amazon with respect to this product that has caused sales to fall off a cliff?

I've been wracking my brains but am completely perplexed. Only a couple hypotheses come to mind:

1. It's just statistical variation. With each passing day and added product listing sessions, though, this seems more and more unlikely.

2. My competition is somehow gaming my Amazon PPC ads by clicking on them and using up the daily budget. This also seems unlikely since a significant chunk of the traffic is coming from Google, as well as organic search on Amazon, since the product is on the first page results for several search terms.

3. Amazon tweaked some algorithm on the backend. But that wouldn't explain the disparity between continued sessions (i.e. qualified prospects visiting the listing) and sales.

Have you experienced something like this with one or more of your own Amazon FBA products? What do you think might be going on?

Thanks for the help!
 
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Readerly

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Did you lose ranking?

I remember having the same problem 2 years ago. For me it was just a slower period before Easter for some reason.

Thanks for the perspective. I got one sale on that product today, so that's somewhat of a relief. Maybe it was just an anomalous slow period.

I haven't been monitoring ranking that closely. I'm still looking for an alternative to Keepa, now that they charge for historical ranking data. What do you use to track ranking?
 

Longinus

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Thanks for the perspective. I got one sale on that product today, so that's somewhat of a relief. Maybe it was just an anomalous slow period.

I haven't been monitoring ranking that closely. I'm still looking for an alternative to Keepa, now that they charge for historical ranking data. What do you use to track ranking?

Nothing, I just go check it on Amazon every few weeks.
 
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Fastlane Liam

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Thanks for the perspective. I got one sale on that product today, so that's somewhat of a relief. Maybe it was just an anomalous slow period.

I haven't been monitoring ranking that closely. I'm still looking for an alternative to Keepa, now that they charge for historical ranking data. What do you use to track ranking?
If you find an alternative to Keepa please tell me, its useful for avoiding seasonal/trend products and a few other research things
 

BlokeInProgress

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I haven't been monitoring ranking that closely. I'm still looking for an alternative to Keepa, now that they charge for historical ranking data. What do you use to track ranking?

After Keepa started charging, I used the extension from Helium 10 to track Sales Rank. Hopefully that can help.

Thanks.
 

Fastlane Liam

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After Keepa started charging, I used the extension from Helium 10 to track Sales Rank. Hopefully that can help.

Thanks.
Which tool is that? The keyword tracker is it?

edit: sorry its the extension, my bad
 
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Last edited:

Readerly

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After Keepa started charging, I used the extension from Helium 10 to track Sales Rank. Hopefully that can help.

Thanks.

Thanks for great heads-up! I just installed the Helium 10 extension on Chrome. Works a lot like Keepa. I think I'll explore their other tools as well.
 

BlokeInProgress

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Thanks for great heads-up! I just installed the Helium 10 extension on Chrome. Works a lot like Keepa. I think I'll explore their other tools as well.

You're welcome! And go through their free video training as well. Well worth it as its free. :)
 

Patrickg

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I know the feeling man. But from my assessment sounds like your getting antsy. Could be so many factors.

Some days like today I’m looking at shopify and thinking wtf hole business is failing. Because it’s tax time and I’m cutting a big check.... no sales which is really rare.

I deleted app on my phone so I start running my business like a true business looking at statistically relevant information, like monthly sales. Not daily.

I hope this helps, I’m not talking about myself to talk about myself. But relate and tell you from my experience, humble experience daily sales isn’t necessarily a good barometer.

Try looking at after week, obv monitoring ad spend. But one week or so might prove to be same conversion rate.

Hope that helps!
 
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Readerly

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I deleted app on my phone so I start running my business like a true business looking at statistically relevant information, like monthly sales. Not daily.

This is sound advice. I need to start thinking more big picture and long-term and less day-to-day. Looking at month-to-month sales is a much saner way to go. Thanks for the reminder.

Getting those "you've made a sale!" alerts is really addictive, though!
 

Patrickg

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This is sound advice. I need to start thinking more big picture and long-term and less day-to-day. Looking at month-to-month sales is a much saner way to go. Thanks for the reminder.

Getting those "you've made a sale!" alerts is really addictive, though!


Like a drug! Hahah
 

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