Ask me anything about eCommerce (Ongoing)

[Genesis_21]

Biophase,

I want to enter a niche, and offer a product that appeals to the dog lovers of this market.

For example, lets say I entered the Apple Macbook Pro vinyl sticker market, and wanted to make dog sticker vinyls. I would make each breed of dog positioned differently/creatively around the Apple symbol. I would create unique, dog cartoon characters, and private label them. There's currently 340+ dog breeds. Do you think it's effective enough to focus on just the top 10, 20, or even 50 most popular breeds?

50 might be too large a variation for one product, and I don't want to overwhelm the customer. But it's a useful, functional, and everyday product, that people love to display, because it's cute.

 

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[biophase]

@biophase,

Thanks for sharing this invaluable knowledge with guys like me. Im in the process of designing (improving) several products that Ill be selling on Amazon, however I did have a question on pricing.

How do you calculate your sales price for your new and improved product?

The market tells you what you can price it at. I just price it at the same price as the non-improved ones. It usually sells at that price point. Once I start to get traction and good reviews I slowly increase my price until sales start to slow.

 

[biophase]

Biophase,

I want to enter a niche, and offer a product that appeals to the dog lovers of this market.

For example, lets say I entered the Apple Macbook Pro vinyl sticker market, and wanted to make dog sticker vinyls. I would make each breed of dog positioned differently/creatively around the Apple symbol. I would create unique, dog cartoon characters, and private label them. There's currently 340+ dog breeds. Do you think it's effective enough to focus on just the top 10, 20, or even 50 most popular breeds?

50 might be too large a variation for one product, and I don't want to overwhelm the customer. But it's a useful, functional, and everyday product, that people love to display, because it's cute.

This is an ironic question because I'm actually in both of these spaces, the dog and the sticker market. I made each sticker a separate Amazon product. No variations. I feel like if someone is looking for a doberman sticker they will just scroll through all the listings until they see one. They aren't going to click on a border collie sticker and hope that there is a variation of a doberman. I think top 20 breeds would be decent. I explored this too, but since I can't draw, it was too costly to hire someone to draw that many breeds.

 

[NuclearPuma]

Great thread, actually gave me a product idea improving what is already out there that aligns with a new invention I have about half way designed. Now I can maybe get my invention plus 2 or 3 other simple products under my brand. I'm certain my invention will sell if marketed correctly so the other products I don't even care much about having except to look more like a real brand maybe pull in a few extra nickels.

Though being a new invention I have a fear better financed competition will copy the design and get in a price war so I will at least file patent pending.

Any experience with accessory products in smaller niches? This is a vehicle accessory specific to a certain make, model and years vehicle, so customer base is way smaller than kitchen knives.

I was probably going to set up a website and all this other stuff but now I might go straight to Amazon and just promote the product around the internet once development is complete.

I will be assembling and packaging these myself, any recommendations on how to make the packaging look professional starting from nothing. Product can fit in larger padded envelope for shipping.

Warranty card with email sign up prompt is a great idea. I'll already have a new complimentary product I will develope after this one so I can offer a discount on that product launch if they sign up.

I've been sitting on this thing for months, began designing months ago, then last 2 weeks I picked it up again and have been working non-stop in my free time. Finally found a design I can manufacture at a low enough cost to be reasonably quite profitable, already waiting on more quotes for some parts and after revisions.

Seems like I can't work fast enough.








Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

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[phenom4hire]

Biophase,

First, how important is product packaging as far as setting your product apart. Does a nicer, higher quality packaging translate to better sales and or better reviews?

Presentation is something I'm focused on at the moment and I want to use it to set my product apart even though I wouldn't really consider it a luxury item. How much is too much as I don't want to get carried away with it and eat into profits to much?

Second. As far as supply management starting out, how would you ensure a steady flow of product with limited funds? If your product takes off and run through your stock to quick, how would you appease customers as well as prevent competitors from coming in and flooding the niche with similar or lower quality products, if it's even possible to kind of slow it down?

Thanks in advance and for all you contribute to the forum.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Genesis_21]

This is an ironic question because I'm actually in both of these spaces, the dog and the sticker market. I made each sticker a separate Amazon product. No variations. I feel like if someone is looking for a doberman sticker they will just scroll through all the listings until they see one. They aren't going to click on a border collie sticker and hope that there is a variation of a doberman. I think top 20 breeds would be decent. I explored this too, but since I can't draw, it was too costly to hire someone to draw that many breeds.

Haha how ironic.

Have you ever worked with an artist before? If so, what was it like? Did he ask for royalties once he realized your idea might be a hit? I can't draw either. My plan is to contact a good friend of mine, and simply ask if he can create a CAD figure of the product I want to make. Any experience in creating an entirely new design of a product? It's function remains the same as all the others on the market, but of course, it will function better.

 

[Fathazard]

So, I read the entire thread and took notes. Thank you Biophase and others for some amazing insights!

Here's a summary of the most interesting points (for me) in this thread so far:


NICHE SELECTION

• The easiest niches to compete in often have the worst overall listing quality. Look at the first two pages of product results. Having a high quality listing among these will be half the battle won. Good copy, pictures, title etc.
• It's good if the top 3/5/10 listings combined have above 3000 units sold per month or so. This ensures that you are competing for something worthwhile. (How do you accurately judge this? Jungle Scout as I understand it is often inaccurate?)
• It does not matter how many competing products there are, if you can add customer value above the top products.
• Don't be afraid to launch product that do only $250 per month. Just do it 20x.
• Do not look at number of reviews or best seller ranks - only what you can improve.

MODIFICATIONS

• Aim for small improvements inspired by 1-2 star reviews on other similar products. Fix real pain points.
• Improvements that are cheap to make might be desirable. Changing shape of plastic/metal often requires a new mold to be made by the manufacturer = $ 2000. Changing buttons to a zipper might be a couple of cents per unit.
• Some improvements might be as simple as more color options. Car interiors are often Beige, black and... red or something - but products for cars are often available ONLY in black. That's an opportunity.
• Commit to ONE product in the beginning, and make it the best possible.
• Offer the improved product as soon as possible. Don't wait until it's perfect - if you do you will never launch. There is time to go back later and improve upon it even more.
• Make sure it's better, not just different.

FINDING MANUFACTURERS

• Alibaba is still the place to be. But beware of dealing with middlemen and scammers. Use common sense.
• If your manufacturer sells your product to someone else, it's time to jump ship. (Also incorporate your brand in the mold next time!)
• Remain careful. Place medium sized orders regularly, rather than huge ones rarely. You never know when they might just up and run away.
• Sometimes, you can sell their generic product first to test out the market. "You can sell their product for 50 units. Then move to your brand when you feel confident. You just change your listing title or product name. It's no big deal selling 50 for someone else. The new customers won't know the difference." // @biophase .

SAMPLES

• Order your modified products on the first order, not generic ones.
• Always get a sample of the final product - even if it costs $50-100.
• A mold may cost you $2000, but think of it as a per unit cost. On a $500 unit order, that is only $4 extra per unit. Add your logo/brand to the mold, and no one will steal it.
• An expensive sample cost might be an indication of a bad manufacturer - conversely, a low sample cost often indicates a good manufacturer.
• Send your first email with all the information the manufacturer needs to send you a sample of your modified product. Quantity, Artwork, Logo, pantone colors, header card design, packaging information and address. Ideally, the response is just a simple confirmation from the factory. This is a quick way to sift out the gold from the mud.
• Ask them to send you 1-5 pieces, and you can start selling right away!

SHIPPING

• Have your supplier package the goods in sellable condition - to save yourself the trouble of repackaging.
  
• Desiccant packages (the small thingies that absorb moisture) might be worth looking into - lest your shipment be soggy when it arrives!
• From China shipping with air takes less than a week; shipping with boat takes 5-6 weeks. (To america)

GETTING REVIEWS

• Reviews from giveaways are being hit hard by Amazon - might even be removed. Although it's alright to do it a few times. Unclear what the limit is. The practice used to be: Order 200, give away 100, break even, and then profit on your next order.
• Make friends and family buy the product at full price, then refund them and get the product back. Voila - review.
• You can sell at cost for a few months - then ramp up price when you rank high.
• Review groups still exist, find them on Facebook or just google. Again, it's uncertain how many units Amazon will allow you to give away and still count the reviews. (Biophase would Not do giveaway's to these groups, but you can still try to sell to them normally. Or do giveaways on platforms like Instagram)
• Use feedback5
• If people are passionate about your product - they leave more reviews. Consider this when picking a niche.

MISC

• Use Stitchlabs for inventory control across different platforms (Amazon, your own store, etc).
• Your own warehouse might be worth it after a while. FBA costs roughly $4 on a $10 product that is envelope sized.
• Sell returns or badly selling goods on Ebay. Or cut your losses and move on.
• Avoid patents - they are expensive and take time. Most of your modifications won't be engineering breakthroughs anyway. Avoid breaking the patents of others though - simple changes are unlikely to do so.
• Get barcodes here: http://www.cheap-upc-barcode.com/ . Send them to the manufacturer. You need one barcode per unique product. A color change makes it a unique product.
• Keep up with competitors who compete on brute force (price, huge advertising budget) by changing your value proposition. Sell a 3-pack, a life-time guarantee, a warranty, or a free secondary item. Or modify your product again to better suit the needs of the market. (It's extremely important that you have branded in this case).
• Setting up Amazon PPC: Run an automatic campaign for a week and let Amazon generate the keywords. Choose the best converting among these to use in a manual campaign.
• When you pay China via paypal they charge 5% in fees. It may differ with factories, but there is usually a surcharge when you pay with a credit card. You can wire the money over instead.
  
• Find a way to make the customer WANT to give you their email (for further marketing). Slip a warranty registration card into each product that prompts the user to register - or something similar.

 

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[Fathazard]

Also, @biophase , instead of paying overseas suppliers via Wire transfers, have you considered something like https://transferwise.com/ ? It's supposedly much cheaper.

I have used them once, but not in a business capacity. From the UK to Sweden, my transfer took about 5 days and ended up cutting the fees by about 80% compared to a direct bank transfer.

 

[biophase]

Biophase,

First, how important is product packaging as far as setting your product apart. Does a nicer, higher quality packaging translate to better sales and or better reviews?

Presentation is something I'm focused on at the moment and I want to use it to set my product apart even though I wouldn't really consider it a luxury item. How much is too much as I don't want to get carried away with it and eat into profits to much?

Second. As far as supply management starting out, how would you ensure a steady flow of product with limited funds? If your product takes off and run through your stock to quick, how would you appease customers as well as prevent competitors from coming in and flooding the niche with similar or lower quality products, if it's even possible to kind of slow it down?

Thanks in advance and for all you contribute to the forum.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

I believe that packaging is important when you are building a brand. I don't think it translates to better sales as nobody see its before they order. I think that nicer packaging probably plays a role in getting a better review. It makes a perception of higher quality.

You'd probably have to get a loan if your product is selling faster than the money coming back. Competitors are going to come. Don't worry about them, just make your product better and always improve it. Inventory and cashflow management become very important if you are on limited funds.

 

[biophase]

Haha how ironic.

Have you ever worked with an artist before? If so, what was it like? Did he ask for royalties once he realized your idea might be a hit? I can't draw either. My plan is to contact a good friend of mine, and simply ask if he can create a CAD figure of the product I want to make. Any experience in creating an entirely new design of a product? It's function remains the same as all the others on the market, but of course, it will function better.

Yes, I hired a few artists. I don't hire anyone who wants royalties. I need to own the artwork 100%. Some on Fiverr were $15 per image and some were $100. You just need to pick through them and find some good ones.

 

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[biophase]

Also, @biophase , instead of paying overseas suppliers via Wire transfers, have you considered something like https://transferwise.com/ ? It's supposedly much cheaper.

I have used them once, but not in a business capacity. From the UK to Sweden, my transfer took about 5 days and ended up cutting the fees by about 80% compared to a direct bank transfer.

Honestly, I don't look to save $30 on my wire transfers. It's not something I worry about as my wire is $40. Also, the factory in China does not change my invoice amount based on the exchange rate. They probably make some extra $$ over there as the USD gets stronger. I concentrate on my core business, which is making and importing good products. I don't need to save $30 on a wire transfer for a $10,000 order that is worth $30,000 retail. I'll lose way more than $30 or more in customer service returns/exchanges.

 

[Deleted20833]

Why would you choose (or not choose) selling digital products over physical products?

 

[Greyson F]

I believe that packaging is important when you are building a brand.

What are the limitations of building a brand with packaging quality when you are going through FBA? Do they allow you to customize or make luxury packaging for products?

 

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[Dicky Dee]

@biophase Got a few questions for your below.

1. After selling for a while do you have any tips on how to expand aggressively (at least double last years revenue), currently im selling about 60k a month with 40% -45% margin, I have made a goal to hit 100k/month by September by adding a certain amount of products to my product line by spring time but capital is becoming bit of a problem when you're continuously adding products every couple months (while keeping 3-4 months worth of inventory). Do you have any ideas on how to sell more that wouldn't need capital in order to do so?

2. Im in various FB groups for selling online via amzn/ebay/shopify etc. and i find that most of them are groups for people who just start out, are you in any groups or masterminds for more experienced sellers so they can bounce ideas/tips off each other?

3. Have you any experience selling to big box retailers for your brands?

 

[biophase]

Why would you choose (or not choose) selling digital products over physical products?

I would not do digital products. I'm trying to build a brand and long sustaining company and in my opinion, a digital product doesn't do that. I also, do not want to keep having to put out new content.

 

[biophase]

What are the limitations of building a brand with packaging quality when you are going through FBA? Do they allow you to customize or make luxury packaging for products?

Of course, you can send them anything. They will ship it out regardless of how your packaging is.

 

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[biophase]

@biophase Got a few questions for your below.

1. After selling for a while do you have any tips on how to expand aggressively (at least double last years revenue), currently im selling about 60k a month with 40% -45% margin, I have made a goal to hit 100k/month by September by adding a certain amount of products to my product line by spring time but capital is becoming bit of a problem when you're continuously adding products every couple months (while keeping 3-4 months worth of inventory). Do you have any ideas on how to sell more that wouldn't need capital in order to do so?

2. Im in various FB groups for selling online via amzn/ebay/shopify etc. and i find that most of them are groups for people who just start out, are you in any groups or masterminds for more experienced sellers so they can bounce ideas/tips off each other?

3. Have you any experience selling to big box retailers for your brands?

1) No, that's the hard part, you run out of capital to keep ordering more and more. Assuming you are selling a physical product, I don't think you can get around buying inventory. You could get a loan or get some terms with your factory I guess.

2) Yes, those beginner groups are sort of annoying to me because everyone is all about making money. I only want to be in groups where people are in it for the long haul and actually are building a business.

3) No, I tried a few years ago. But I decided not to go that route. Getting wholesale margin and having to order 10x more inventory, to sell at 1/2 its price was just not appealing to me.

 

[hz2g]

Hi @biophase,

Thanks for the value add. I am not sure if this is answered already but how would you setup your processes if you were not in the US? Would you ship directly from Amazon to FBA? If not, what would you use?

Thanks!

 

[LightHouse]

@biophase Got a few questions for your below.

1. After selling for a while do you have any tips on how to expand aggressively (at least double last years revenue), currently im selling about 60k a month with 40% -45% margin, I have made a goal to hit 100k/month by September by adding a certain amount of products to my product line by spring time but capital is becoming bit of a problem when you're continuously adding products every couple months (while keeping 3-4 months worth of inventory). Do you have any ideas on how to sell more that wouldn't need capital in order to do so?

2. Im in various FB groups for selling online via amzn/ebay/shopify etc. and i find that most of them are groups for people who just start out, are you in any groups or masterminds for more experienced sellers so they can bounce ideas/tips off each other?

3. Have you any experience selling to big box retailers for your brands?

The 10k group you are in on FB is fairly decent. I instantly recognize your name from there. The thing with those groups is most of the people posting, aren't working. The key is to develop friends and trust with people. You might trying coming to the fastlane meetup from this forum in a few weeks. there is a ticket available, It would be very beneficial for you i'd think.

 

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[TKDTyler]

Hey Bio,

I have a product coming in with 3 various sku's that will be under the same listing that I will be attempting to rank.

Do you know if the bsr listings with color/material variations increase as a function of units sold under the listing or does each variation track its sales individually and it is the average weight of the 3?

Do you have any advice on ranking multiple variation listings that differ from when trying to rank a single sku/listing?

Thanks!

 

[Jake]

Do you know if the bsr listings with color/material variations increase as a function of units sold under the listing or does each variation track its sales individually and it is the average weight of the 3?

Sales under the variations count as a sale for the main listing. Click through the variations on a product and check the bsr.

Edit: I guess it depends on the category

 

[biophase]

Hi @biophase,

Thanks for the value add. I am not sure if this is answered already but how would you setup your processes if you were not in the US? Would you ship directly from Amazon to FBA? If not, what would you use?

Thanks!

If I weren't in the US, I'd probably ship to my home and then ship from my home to FBA warehouse. But this depends on the size of the product. I would think that eventually I would be going from the factory direct to an Amazon FBA warehouse.

 

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[biophase]

Hey Bio,

I have a product coming in with 3 various sku's that will be under the same listing that I will be attempting to rank.

Do you know if the bsr listings with color/material variations increase as a function of units sold under the listing or does each variation track its sales individually and it is the average weight of the 3?

Do you have any advice on ranking multiple variation listings that differ from when trying to rank a single sku/listing?

Thanks!

I think it's better to have 3 variations under one product so that the sales for all 3 go towards that product. However, each variation will still have its own BSR rank.

For ranking it's all about sales, so you just try to get sales to any variation that you can.

 

[Jake]

If I weren't in the US, I'd probably ship to my home and then ship from my home to FBA warehouse. But this depends on the size of the product. I would think that eventually I would be going from the factory direct to an Amazon FBA warehouse.

I did that once and had the privilege of paying a 70% import tax. Cheaper for me to fly to china then ship here.

 

[amp0193]

I think it's better to have 3 variations under one product so that the sales for all 3 go towards that product. However, each variation will still have its own BSR rank.

For ranking it's all about sales, so you just try to get sales to any variation that you can.

This is actually category dependent.

In most categories, search rank and BSR is tied to one ASIN only. Amazon displays the most relevant/popular of the variations in the search results. Sending sales to the other variations will not help your rank in any way, unless one of those variations becomes the most relevant one itself and starts selling a lot more than the others. If each variation is targeting a different set of keywords, then of course the extra sales to the other variations will help rank for their unique keywords This is not true in clothing, where all of the variations are treated as one, and there is only one BSR. I know some (or all?) of Sports & Outdoors has combined BSRs as well.

Only by testing it both ways, will you know if you're losing more sales by having the variations split or by having them together. If you can manage it, the most money will come from ranking a bunch of single ASIN listings to the top, as you'll cover more real-estate on the search page.

I have 15+ variations on a product, each has it's own BSR. Every-time I add a new set of variations, my overall total sales number increases, but the sales on the main ASIN decrease slightly. Overtime, I've had to drop the price on the main ASIN to keep the proportion of sales for it high enough to where I can stay competitive in the search. The strategy is kind of like a "loss-leader", essentially using the main ASIN as the driver of the search rank, and then I make the most profit on all of the other variations.

I recently attempted a split off of one of my variations to it's own new listing page. It showed up on the 2nd page, so I dropped price to rank to the 1st. As soon as it hit the first page, it started cannibalizing more sales from my main ASIN than I thought it would, and the main lost a couple of places in search a few days later. I ultimately had to combine that ASIN back in with the others, because I couldn't afford to lose the rank of my best selling one.

All the more reason to do what Biophase says, and stay out of competitive stuff! It's a big headache.

@TKDTyler

 

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[BeLarge]

Hey man!
My question is- how do you recommend starting first eCom business?
Which platform to use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BlahBlahBlah]

Big day for me today, I finally went live with my e-Commerce website!

Priority #1 now is to get Adwords optimized, improve SEO and get active on Amazon asap.... and then?

I was thinking on how to move from here and came up with four main points, I would need some help to understand in your opinion which one(s) should I go with first (consider that I am based in Ireland):

1) Translate site in different languages: I could easily get the website translated into Italian, Spanish, French and German. I can then get more customers from those countries which would obviously be positive. Shipping cost to those countries is similar as sending to the UK and not much more expensive that sending to Ireland (items I sell are quite light). Advertisement costs will be obviously higher.

2) Extend product range: I am already quite happy with the products I have and have another addition coming in hopefully by the middle of March. Unfortunately, in China they are on a two weeks break now and so I won’t be getting anything done until mid-February, when they are back however I have the drawings of the product ready to go and EOM branding will take about 20 days according to my supplier. This is a great product that I have been selling on eBay as a generic in the past two months and have about 60/70 email addresses of existing customers plus all the ones that will be purchasing in the future – hopefully I can drive part of them to purchase my brand going forward. It is also great because on the contrary of the other products on my website this is something that if users need to purchase at least once per month, so it would be great to get regular customers!
After this product is done however I wonder if I should keep going and look for new products or hold back for a while and prioritize on of the other points? Including variations I have about 50-60 products on my website now.

3) Extend social network presence: at the moment my plan is to use AdWords and Amazon PPC to get traffic, however I wonder if it would be worth to invest time on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter also. The downside is definitely that I can’t just invest money and get it working by itself, I could need to actually spend time looking after it (unless I outsource it to somebody for a couple of hours per week). I am not very creative with these things though and I am afraid I would run out of original posts soon, so if I go ahead with this I think outsourcing would be the way to go. Question is, do it now or wait?

4) Look for new sales venues: apart from my website and Amazon I will continue selling on eBay, however I am not planning to sell some of my branded products there as I don’t want the brand to be associated to eBay. I can still use eBay for generic items though as I have done until now and use it to try to drive customers from there to my website when a purchase is completed. There other minor sites however that deserve to be looked into. I am not sure this should be a priority though.

On my place, what would you do next? I can’t do all four together immediately, but I can definitely do two of the above in parallel though.

Any advice and suggest is welcome as usual! Thank you

 

[TKDTyler]

I think it's better to have 3 variations under one product so that the sales for all 3 go towards that product. However, each variation will still have its own BSR rank.

For ranking it's all about sales, so you just try to get sales to any variation that you can.

This is actually category dependent.

In most categories, search rank and BSR is tied to one ASIN only. Amazon displays the most relevant/popular of the variations in the search results. Sending sales to the other variations will not help your rank in any way, unless one of those variations becomes the most relevant one itself and starts selling a lot more than the others. If each variation is targeting a different set of keywords, then of course the extra sales to the other variations will help rank for their unique keywords This is not true in clothing, where all of the variations are treated as one, and there is only one BSR. I know some (or all?) of Sports & Outdoors has combined BSRs as well.

Only by testing it both ways, will you know if you're losing more sales by having the variations split or by having them together. If you can manage it, the most money will come from ranking a bunch of single ASIN listings to the top, as you'll cover more real-estate on the search page.

I have 15+ variations on a product, each has it's own BSR. Every-time I add a new set of variations, my overall total sales number increases, but the sales on the main ASIN decrease slightly. Overtime, I've had to drop the price on the main ASIN to keep the proportion of sales for it high enough to where I can stay competitive in the search. The strategy is kind of like a "loss-leader", essentially using the main ASIN as the driver of the search rank, and then I make the most profit on all of the other variations.

I recently attempted a split off of one of my variations to it's own new listing page. It showed up on the 2nd page, so I dropped price to rank to the 1st. As soon as it hit the first page, it started cannibalizing more sales from my main ASIN than I thought it would, and the main lost a couple of places in search a few days later. I ultimately had to combine that ASIN back in with the others, because I couldn't afford to lose the rank of my best selling one.

All the more reason to do what Biophase says, and stay out of competitive stuff! It's a big headache.

Interesting...

My budget allows for me to order around 300 of said units in my initial order. In your experience, would you stick with 1 variation until it ranked?

I am currently thinking one of the options:

100 Units of variation 1, 2 and 3 on same listing. This was the original plan until learning about BSR on variations.
200 Units of Variation 1, 50 of 2 and 3. Rank variation 1 faster such that it is at top of searches, but still allow buys to have options within the listing.
150 Units of Variation 1 and 150 of Variation 2 and rank both. Order Variation 3 with profits.

Its pretty low competition, nothing much past page 2 in terms of my product. The top ranking product only has ~140 reviews so I don't think it will be that hard to rank as long as I can get my BSR ranking up. My product is leaps and bounds better than theirs as well.

Thanks!

 

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[amp0193]

Interesting...

My budget allows for me to order around 300 of said units in my initial order. In your experience, would you stick with 1 variation until it ranked?

I am currently thinking one of the options:

100 Units of variation 1, 2 and 3 on same listing. This was the original plan until learning about BSR on variations.
200 Units of Variation 1, 50 of 2 and 3. Rank variation 1 faster such that it is at top of searches, but still allow buys to have options within the listing.
150 Units of Variation 1 and 150 of Variation 2 and rank both. Order Variation 3 with profits.

Its pretty low competition, nothing much past page 2 in terms of my product. The top ranking product only has ~140 reviews so I don't think it will be that hard to rank as long as I can get my BSR ranking up. My product is leaps and bounds better than theirs as well.

Thanks!

What I'm doing with a new line of products:

I bought 300 of one variation. I did a 40 unit promo. This landed me in the #2 spot on page 1. I blew threw another 100 at a reduced price to solidify rank, and maybe even boost me to #1. I raised price today and hopefully in a few days I should be in the #1 spot at full price.

Next week, i'll order maybe 600 of variation one and 300 of variation 2. Will repeat the process with #2. My short-term goal is to own the top 5 spots in search. Seems doable based on the results of last 2 weeks.

I would buy 300-500 units of all 5 variations at once if I could, but cash is a bit tight right now.

 

[biophase]

Next week, i'll order maybe 600 of variation one and 300 of variation 2. Will repeat the process with #2. My short-term goal is to own the top 5 spots in search. Seems doable based on the results of last 2 weeks.

Do you mean own the top 5 spots with the same product using 5 variations?

BTW, my products:
Sports and Outdoors - one BSR for the parent product only
Pets - one BSR for each variation