Paid traffic to your own store VS Amazon for eCommerce

[LPPC]

Hi all,

Now that I've graduated, I have time again to resume my journey in eCommerce. Currently I'm trying to find a product to sell on my shopify store. The plan is to start off with sending paid Facebook traffic to my store to make sales. I'm testing different products to see which one sells well. I am pretty familiar now with Facebook ads, creating my own shopify store and making landing pages. I've had 2 sales now doing this, and it's the only 2 sales I've gotten in my life doing eCommerce.

I'm doubting my decision to go this path though. I'm wondering, is focusing on selling on Amazon a better idea for me (at this stage)? With selling on Amazon you get free organic traffic. I think that may make it much easier. But I think with paid traffic you might make more sales faster.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of both? What is the better way to continue? Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

-LPPC

 

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[journeyman]

Hey LPPC.
I have gone down the shopify route myself recently, biggest problem I have found is the cost of paid traffic is always more than the order value.
How do you move your products? Are you dropshipping or shipping to yourself and repackaging etc?
For me the biggest difference is that by using organic amazon traffic you are selling products that someone was looking for.
Whereas when you are using facebook ads you just show products to your audience that they weren't necessarily thinking to buy...
So if there is already great demand for a product then Amazon could probably give results pretty quickly.The question is how you go about outperforming the competition in that case...

 

[hughjasle]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

I've done/do both including running paid traffic directly to Amazon as well.

I can't tell you which is better for you or your situation, but here's my thoughts.

Amazon is easier in the sense that it can all be calculated before putting in any money. It's more of a science process. Do your research properly inspecting what kind of traffic is available for said product and make sure to dig through the numbers to see that there is enough margin. Include extra costs like marketing and then figure out how many sales the top guys are getting then figure out how to get to that many sales as well so you too can be top ranked. That's the amazon game. Not much else to it. Those with deeper pockets and willing to invest more into getting those sales wins. Thus the race to the bottom. There are other routes to take in Amazon, but in the end, most of it is all the same.

Paid traffic to your own site has no guarantees and no knowns. It's not nearly as calculated and involves a lot of testing. This is more of an art than science, even though paid traffic itself is a science, the rest is an art. There is no guarantee one painting (product) is going to be a masterpiece. If you can find that masterpiece, there is far more room to grow with paid traffic to your own store. For example I have one product where the top similar products do $2k-5k a month revenue. I run paid traffic to my site selling my version of that product and do $10k a day revenue. BIG difference. However this too can be a race to the bottom if you are simply dropshipping or private labeling something. Those are too easily copied and you'll see 10 copy cats who are using your exact same ad, site design and product within a month. To do this right you have to have your own brand. The more work you have to do to make your product unique and invest in it, the lower the competition will be.

This is clearly just a brief overview of each. Both paths create new millionaires all the time who all started with less than you have now. Pick whichever interests you most and master it from the top down. Push everything else out of your vision till you do.

 

[LPPC]

Hey LPPC.
I have gone down the shopify route myself recently, biggest problem I have found is the cost of paid traffic is always more than the order value.
How do you move your products? Are you dropshipping or shipping to yourself and repackaging etc?
For me the biggest difference is that by using organic amazon traffic you are selling products that someone was looking for.
Whereas when you are using facebook ads you just show products to your audience that they weren't necessarily thinking to buy...
So if there is already great demand for a product then Amazon could probably give results pretty quickly.The question is how you go about outperforming the competition in that case...

If I find a winner product, I will ship it to a fulfillment center in the US. I myself live in Europe, so fulfilling it myself is not an option. You are right, on Facebook we need impulse buyers, I think. Thanks for your input

I've done/do both including running paid traffic directly to Amazon as well.

I can't tell you which is better for you or your situation, but here's my thoughts.

Amazon is easier in the sense that it can all be calculated before putting in any money. It's more of a science process. Do your research properly inspecting what kind of traffic is available for said product and make sure to dig through the numbers to see that there is enough margin. Include extra costs like marketing and then figure out how many sales the top guys are getting then figure out how to get to that many sales as well so you too can be top ranked. That's the amazon game. Not much else to it. Those with deeper pockets and willing to invest more into getting those sales wins. Thus the race to the bottom. There are other routes to take in Amazon, but in the end, most of it is all the same.

Paid traffic to your own site has no guarantees and no knowns. It's not nearly as calculated and involves a lot of testing. This is more of an art than science, even though paid traffic itself is a science, the rest is an art. There is no guarantee one painting (product) is going to be a masterpiece. If you can find that masterpiece, there is far more room to grow with paid traffic to your own store. For example I have one product where the top similar products do $2k-5k a month revenue. I run paid traffic to my site selling my version of that product and do $10k a day revenue. BIG difference. However this too can be a race to the bottom if you are simply dropshipping or private labeling something. Those are too easily copied and you'll see 10 copy cats who are using your exact same ad, site design and product within a month. To do this right you have to have your own brand. The more work you have to do to make your product unique and invest in it, the lower the competition will be.

This is clearly just a brief overview of each. Both paths create new millionaires all the time who all started with less than you have now. Pick whichever interests you most and master it from the top down. Push everything else out of your vision till you do.

Thanks a lot Hugh, your opinion is always valued with me! I like the fact that you can make more money in a shorter amount of time with paid traffic. You have convinced me to continue with the paid traffic route. Also, I have already spent a lot of time to get started with this, might as well continue and not start with something completely new. Making a product better/unique seems hard but I will definitely try and most probably succeed in time. It's the way to longevity as you said.

Don't be hesitant to update your progress thread if you'd like to Hugh, curious to know how it's going with your stores

 

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[hughjasle]

You have convinced me to continue with the paid traffic route.

lol it wasn't my intent to convince anyone one way or another.

IMO It really comes down to your own personal circumstances and desires.

I like the fact that you can make more money in a shorter amount of time with paid traffic.

While that is true in general. I don't think Amazon should be discounted. I have friends who have built up Amazon only businesses from 0 to selling in 2-3 years for just shy of $20m. That's some serious volume and fast. He knows amazon in and out and has it down to a science. That's what's cool about amazon to me. You can run the entire business based off of rough numbers that you can gather through research instead of spending the money and time gathering the data yourself in doing paid traffic.

Honestly, if I were at 0 today like I was a few years ago and no knowledge, I'd start with Amazon and stick with it solely for 2-5 years. Get it to a point that it is self sustaining and basically follow
biophase's model. It's a solid model and relatively stress free do to it's precisely calculated nature. Then use the proceeds to learn paid traffic by starting off driving FB traffic to my amazon listings.

ALL THAT SAID;
Mastering Paid Traffic has is own massive benefits as well. It has given me the life I've always dreamed of

Don't be hesitant to update your progress thread if you'd like to Hugh, curious to know how it's going with your stores

Reluctantly updated just for you. I didn't want to revive an old thread since the ending is lack luster. I'll try and adapt it into how we grew our current store to success instead.

 

[LPPC]

lol it wasn't my intent to convince anyone one way or another.

IMO It really comes down to your own personal circumstances and desires.


While that is true in general. I don't think Amazon should be discounted. I have friends who have built up Amazon only businesses from 0 to selling in 2-3 years for just shy of $20m. That's some serious volume and fast. He knows amazon in and out and has it down to a science. That's what's cool about amazon to me. You can run the entire business based off of rough numbers that you can gather through research instead of spending the money and time gathering the data yourself in doing paid traffic.

Honestly, if I were at 0 today like I was a few years ago and no knowledge, I'd start with Amazon and stick with it solely for 2-5 years. Get it to a point that it is self sustaining and basically follow
biophase's model. It's a solid model and relatively stress free do to it's precisely calculated nature. Then use the proceeds to learn paid traffic by starting off driving FB traffic to my amazon listings.

ALL THAT SAID;
Mastering Paid Traffic has is own massive benefits as well. It has given me the life I've always dreamed of

Reluctantly updated just for you. I didn't want to revive an old thread since the ending is lack luster. I'll try and adapt it into how we grew our current store to success instead.

Allright, you have convinced me to go the Amazon route... nah kidding xD

Amazon seemed like the more safer route to me before, and this confirms it pretty much. But I have spent too much time learning paid traffic to change routes now, especially since paid traffic has its own advantages. Not sure whether it's the right choice for me at the moment, but oh well....

Thank you for updating your progress thread, it's really appreciated!

 

[DeletedUser63433]

Starting on shopify.

My reason is because of the cost of inventory, amazon margins (slim), Amazon PPC, Launch strategy (which ever route you choose costs money), and the timeframe from which I get my inventory, to the point of it in FBA and selling.

Plus the turn around rate is about a month- 2 months, turn around in which you profit that is.

 

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[DeletedUser63433]

Now it seems that with shopify, you create a customer experience.

Think about all the art, design, and feel that goes into a webstore. Its similar to walking into louis vuitton at the mall, or lacoste.

So with shopify I can use "white label" products, that I did nothing to improve or change. Instead, I grouped a bunch of products together that work in relation to a market, and see which ones sell the best.

Constant testing and a deep understanding of marketing is a must with paid traffic.

Starting a new brand this week, I will update everyone!!!

 

[ecommercewolf]

lol it wasn't my intent to convince anyone one way or another.

IMO It really comes down to your own personal circumstances and desires.


While that is true in general. I don't think Amazon should be discounted. I have friends who have built up Amazon only businesses from 0 to selling in 2-3 years for just shy of $20m. That's some serious volume and fast. He knows amazon in and out and has it down to a science. That's what's cool about amazon to me. You can run the entire business based off of rough numbers that you can gather through research instead of spending the money and time gathering the data yourself in doing paid traffic.

Honestly, if I were at 0 today like I was a few years ago and no knowledge, I'd start with Amazon and stick with it solely for 2-5 years. Get it to a point that it is self sustaining and basically follow
biophase's model. It's a solid model and relatively stress free do to it's precisely calculated nature. Then use the proceeds to learn paid traffic by starting off driving FB traffic to my amazon listings.

ALL THAT SAID;
Mastering Paid Traffic has is own massive benefits as well. It has given me the life I've always dreamed of

Reluctantly updated just for you. I didn't want to revive an old thread since the ending is lack luster. I'll try and adapt it into how we grew our current store to success instead.

Is there a specific thread you are referring to when you say BioPhase's model?