My opinion of the Amazon Marketplace

[biophase]

It's no secret that Amazon's FBA marketplace has changed dramatically in this year. One of the reasons that I've decided not to do my coaching again in 2019 is because I feel that it is very hard to get a new product launched now, solely on Amazon. I feel that the strategy for launching has changed and now requires a more complex approach.

Just as an example, one my clients from Jan 2018 picked a niche within a niche. We are talking something that was very targeted. Think something like wallets made from ostrich feathers. When we looked at the niche, there were 3 competitors in Feb 2018. Now there are at least 6. This niche is so small, that a paranoid person would think that either I or my client told people about this niche in February. How else do 3 competitors show up in something so unusual? My answer is, it's because everyone is in Amazon and trying to do the same thing that you are doing. If you are thinking about a fidget spinner made of knives, somebody else probably has the same idea.

So, what do you do now? Well, in my opinion, you can no longer launch a product on Amazon, you must launch a brand. You cannot think short term, you must think long term. You must have a much longer timeframe and a built out strategy that includes marketing outside of Amazon.

Gone are the days of a one product launch.

So this is how I plan to do my future launches. First, you still need to find a decent product. That's still a given. But if all you do is find a decent product, chances are, others have found the same one. So when you launch, you are a handful of others are in the same boat.

I'm going to use backpacks for the remainder of this post to illustrate my example. Let's say I'm selling a new school backpack. I make a slightly new design in black color with a brand name STRIDER.

When this goes live on Amazon, your backpack is going to be seen right along side a dozen other black school backpacks. Your backpack may be different and better, but how will people know it's cool features without clicking onto your listing?

First, your listing needs to be seen. This means PPC for the newly launched product.
Second, your listing needs to convert. This means getting reviews.

You will quickly find out how expensive PPC is and how difficult getting reviews are now.

In the old days, you toss up a PPC campaign and send out review emails. You could even decide to use a review group if you get desperate.

So here is how I would do it. First, I would launch multiple colors, I would do a black, blue, gray STRIDER backpack. I would give the backpack a name, like the STRIDER CLASSIC backpack.

Then I would launch a STRIDER TRAX messenger bag in blue, black & gray
Then I would launch a STRIDER LIFER shoulder sling in brown, gray & blue

Now I've got 3 products in a similar niche. I can create an IG and FB page for STRIDER BAGS. With 3 products in different colors, I can make decent content of people using my bags, put in some lifestyle posts.

I would create a Shopify store to sell the products. 3 products is probably enough to make a decent looking store.

I would drive traffic from IG, FB to either the store or Amazon. I'd run some Google PPC to the webstore and do some Amazon PPC.

If you look at the overall picture now, a new customer that stumbles upon Amazon, Shopify, IG or FB, would see a consistent brand. They'd see STRIDER as a new brand they just discovered that sells some pretty cool bags. Can you guys picture this in your head? Can you picture what the Shopify page would look like? The IG page with dozens of photos? The FB page with 1000 likes a photos? This is what I mean by launching a brand.

This new customer, if they like your stuff will probably go onto Amazon and search for it. They will type in STRIDER backpack and click and buy YOUR backpack. This is how you will get your sales and eventually reviews.

You envision the whole brand from the start and then execute it. It's very different than, junglescout says that the top seller of black backpacks is doing $150k a month. I can get one for $10 on Alibaba and sell it for $50. Now who wants to sell backpacks!!!

 

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[amp0193]

I agree 100% with this.

One-product opportunities are becoming limited to products with very high barriers to entry. There is still some opportunity for "easy" launches on high-barrier products though, I think.

Rare or uncommon products, like an ostrich-feather wallet, may be hard to find, but probably not that high of a barrier, once you find it.

I launched a high-price, high-barrier product on Amazon last month. New Amazon account, don't have buy box yet, so can't run ads. Slowly selling some via organic search. My product has 0 competitors on Amazon, I am the only one. 99% of sales are through my website, so Amazon was an after thought. Just throw it up, have some website customers post some nice reviews, and let it sit, and it's working out.

Once I can run ads, I'll give it a try, but I'm not too worried about it. For this kind of product, people would probably rather buy on my website anyways.

 

[Vigilante]

I am framing out a brand launch right now, and I can't agree with your post any more than I do. This brand launch will be completely different than when I launched my last item-centric company. This new company will be built around technology that will be proprietary, and will be launched outside of Amazon. We will eventually put it on Amazon, but the company will be built as a brand solution to an emerging market need, and the company and brand will exist outside of Amazon. To ensure it will be self sustenant and adhere to the commandment of control, it will live outside of Amazon. It will not be an Amazon-centric business, and when we do launch on Amazon that will be just one channel of distribution, not the backbone of the business.

Amazon still generates nearly 1 of every 2 eCommerce sales, but for vendors to Amazon (or marketplace sellers on Amazon) that is coming at an increasingly insatiable cost of doing business in their sandbox. My new brand will start out at low velocity and high margin, and we'll be slow to migrate it into a high velocity low margin business.

This time, it will be more about building a brand presence than it will be a product/price business. We'll own the market as the mindshare experts in our space, the Google organic results will deliver to our site, the ad money we spend will be aimed at creating conversions within IP that we own and control, and ultimately the brand will be much more healthy as a result of being forced to be profitable from day one.

And to your point, the initial company/brand will launch with a dozen skus (and one main proprietary GO-TO item which will be the main product the brand is known for). We'll launch simultaneously on several venues from YouTube to Instagram, eBay (at full retail, for SEO social proof only), Facebook, and of course it's own website.

The business will have a high(er) barrier to entry, and ultimately in full manifestation will be a regulated business which creates the ultimate barrier to knockoff Alibaba jockeys. The more complex the business model, the less susceptible towards cheap imitation. First market movers advantage also makes it more difficult to catch the market leader. The brand and sub-brands will be trademarked from day one (registered) and will be eligible for brand registry when ever we decide the PITA of Amazon is a worthwhile trade for increased revenue.

Great comments, @biophase and reaffirming to me as we're in the throws of the first manufacturing orders right now. After the products arrive, we'll spend time on images, videos, and other consumer perception collateral. This not a game of "rush it out to Amazon" but it's much more complicated and thoughtful.

Marked notable, with thanks.