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The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

An eCommerce podcast for store owners, hosted by 7-figure store owners Mike Jackness and Dave Bryant. We cover everything in eCommerce from Shopify, to Amazon FBA. From email marketing, to Facebook Ads. Never before has there been a podcast with store owners who are so candid. Subscribe to the Ecomcrew podcast today!
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Now displaying: 2022
Dec 5, 2022

Mike and Dave talk about the current environment of software tools in the ecommerce space; how it's grown, the leaps and bounds made throughout the years, and the pitfalls of some of these changes.

2022 has been a year of changes and innovations in the software space, and EcomCrew is once again polling sellers to find out the Best Amazon Seller Software across five categories:

  1. Keyword and Product Research
  2. PPC Management
  3. Reimbursement Services
  4. Repricing Tools
  5. Product Launches

By simply telling us what you think and completing the survey, you’ll get a chance to win a free Annual EcomCrew Premium Membership valued at $2000. Head over to ecomcrew.com/softwarepoll to cast your vote!

For this episode, Dave and I will talk about all the new and popular tools (including ones that Amazon launched just this year) at a high level to give you a rough idea about where the whole seller software ecosystem is headed in the coming years. In a few weeks, we’ll be doing a follow-up episode to talk about the poll results and why sellers think the winning software are the most important for an ecommerce business.

Timestamps:

  • Intro and catching up — 00:00
  • What EcomCrew’s’ annual software poll is all about — 3:14
  • Significant innovations in terms of Amazon software — 7:58
  • Areas of improvement for “AI” software — 10:20
  • Have Google and Facebook tried to resist these new tools? — 13:00
  • Has the average budget for seller software gone down significantly? — 17:58
  • Why Amazon is rolling out its own seller tools — 20:34
  • How to vote on EcomCrew’s Software Pool — 23:02

Don’t forget to cast your vote over on ecomcrew.com/softwarepoll and get a chance to win an annual EcomCrew Premium membership free for your troubles. 

Also, don’t forget to follow and leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy all our content. It helps more than you know.

Until the next one, happy selling!

Nov 28, 2022

About 18 months ago, Jodie Cook sold her business and wrote a book about the ten-year journey that led her there. She has determined the four main steps that help entrepreneurs achieve financial freedom without sacrificing personal time.

 

Timestamps:

  • Jodie’s e-commerce background - 2:40
  • The framework of The Ten Year Career - 4:39
  • How ego keeps your business from growing - 7:18
  • How to get from Execute to Systemize - 7:56
  • The upside of delegating - 11:29 
  • How to know when you’re on the Scrutinize step - 13:45 
  • How to prepare for the best possible exit - 15:22 
  • What pushed Jodie to sell her business - 21:44
  • The wrong reasons to exit your business - 24:40

 

You can check out Jodie’s book, The Ten Year Career: Reimagine Business, Design Your Life, Fast Track Your Freedom on Amazon. It’s a great addition to any online business owner’s bookshelf. You can also find out where you are in your career by taking the quiz on the book’s companion site.

 

By the way, EcomCrew Premium is still at 50% off until midnight. This is your last chance to register during our biggest sale of the year, so don’t miss out! Visit our website to secure your slot.

Nov 24, 2022

Starting an Amazon business today is a completely different ball game compared to starting to sell in 2015. These days, you'll need more than just good-looking listings and great copy to hit that highly 7 or 8-figure revenue milestone.

 

I've invited fellow MDS member and 8-figure seller Talor Zamir to tell us exactly how he's built multiple businesses up to the 8-figure mark, how he got started in the ecommerce industry and the valuable lessons he's learnt along the way. He's also got some tips in store for those of you who are thinking of starting something new for 2023. 

 

Don't have the time to listen through the whole episode? We've got you covered. Here's some of the highlights from the episode: 

  • Introduction to Talor Zamir - 1:22 
  • How Talor differentiated products in his first business - 9:45 
  • What Talor's best performing businesses had in common - 15:53
  • Talor's Differentiation Strategy #2 - Earning your customers trust - 18:52 
  • Why Mike started the Ecomcrew Podcast - 25:13 
  • Talor's Differentiation Strategy #3 - 27:23 
  • How much time Talor spent between selling and starting businesses - 29:25 
  • What Talor's working on currently - 34:00 

 

The lessons here are definitely something everyone should take into consideration before starting your business. No matter how attractive it might seem to sell any product with a high search volume, the riches are in the niches and the best niches are the ones where you can see yourself as the ideal customer. 

 

This advice may seem obvious to the experienced seller, so I'll echo out a piece of advice for those with mid-sized businesses: do a lot of thinking time. Spend some time outside of the daily work to-do list to think about what you can do to take your brand to the next level. 

 

I won't spoil anymore for the episode, but hopefully this convinces you to listen through the whole thing. However, if you're more interested in what Talor has to say after hearing his story, check out the Peak Performance Life Podcast where he speaks with physical and mental health experts on how you can start prioritizing your health better. 

 

Lastly, big things are happening this week with EcomCrew Premium. We’re going to be launching for the last time in 2022, and this is going to be our biggest sale ever! On top of the heavily discounted rate, we’re giving an additional 20% off to those who register for our waitlist.

Nov 21, 2022

October was a busy month for both me and Dave as we work on preparing for Black Friday and making more improvements on all our brands. On top of that, we’re also getting ready for 2023, so it’s no surprise that we’ve run into some challenges along the way.

 

In particular, we’ve been dealing with Amazon’s new inventory storage limits that affected most of our brands. In this episode, we talk about how we’re dealing with that and a few things we’ve been implementing to increase our sales and conversion. For more information, check out our October 2022 Brand Report.

 

Here are the episode’s highlights:

  • Amazon Inventory Storage Limits and the percentage of sellers affected - 3:20 
  • Our theory on why Amazon imposed inventory limits despite the abundance of warehouse space - 7:10
  • How our inventory levels are doing with the new limits - 11:20
  • EcomCrew Premium Black Friday Launch - 14:35
  • Using Join Brands to increase conversions - 19:50
  • Justifying ad costs and small improvements for your brand - 22:40
  • How our site traffic improved by using AI - 28:10

 

We’re going to be discussing more about how we significantly improved our sites’ traffic using AI in our public webinar tomorrow, November 22 at 10 AM (PST). We’re doing a roundup of all the most effective and advanced strategies we’ve used during the year and show you how you can apply them to your own brands. Make sure to register to save your seats.

 

Lastly, big things are happening this week with EcomCrew Premium. We’re going to be launching for the last time in 2022, and this is going to be our biggest sale ever! On top of the heavily discounted rate, we’re giving an additional 20% off to those who register for our waitlist.

 

Nov 17, 2022

Mike talks to the co-founder of Avataar, Gaurav Baid, about the future of ecommerce through the lens of Augmented Reality and how you can enhance the customer experience through AR.

 

Gaurav is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Avataar, a company that aims to bridge the gap between retailers and their customers to create a unique interactive shopping experiences for customers through Augmented Reality. 

 

In this episode, our discussion mainly revolved around these 4 points: 

  • The questions that AR can provide to improve Customer Experience
  • The unlimited future possibilities of AR and contextual reality
  • How creating content with AI is a struggle
  • Being the first to adapt will give you a generational advantage
  • The statistics of AR's effect on Ecommerce
  • The evolution of advertisements through Augmented Reality 
  • The costs of AR and today's capabilities 

 

After everything you've heard today, you might be interested in checking out Avataar. Check out Avataar if you're interested in helping customers visualize your products in their personal spaces. 

 

On another news, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be opening EcomCrew Premium on Black Friday for the last time this year. And of course, we’re saving the best for last by giving you our biggest discount yet. For an even more special offer, sign up for our waitlist today. It’s open only once a quarter, and there’s no better time to register.

 

Do you have any thoughts about our podcast? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Nov 14, 2022

Mike speaks to Will Haire of BellaVix about some last minute tactics you can incorporate into your business before the biggest sale of the year -- Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. 

 

The biggest online sales event of the year is coming, and we’re here to help you prepare your brand to make the most out of it. I’m joined by Will Haire of Bellavix to talk about the most important aspects of your business you should be looking at.

 

Here are the episode’s highlights:

  • Will’s ecommerce background - 3:21
  • What businesses should be preparing for during BFCM - 4:28
  • Preparing your site and product listings - 9:46
  • The importance of going for longtail keywords - 14:38
  • How to encourage user-generated content without violating Amazon’s TOS - 15:12
  • Will’s main image horror story - 18:20
  • Black Friday EcomCrew Premium opening - 23:05
  • How to prepare enough inventory for Black Friday - 25:25
  • Some hard truths about selling on Amazon - 29:00
  • Are labor issues affecting Amazon’s warehousing problems? - 32:10
  • Will’s advertising advice - 33:35

 

Will is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bellavix, a full-service management agency. Check out Bellavix if you need assistance in managing and growing your business on Amazon or Walmart. They specialize on category domination and cater not only to third-party but also to first-party sellers.

 

On another news, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be opening EcomCrew Premium on Black Friday for the last time this year. And of course, we’re saving the best for last by giving you our biggest discount yet. For an even more special offer, sign up for our waitlist today. It’s open only once a quarter, and there’s no better time to register.

 

Have any thoughts about our podcast? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Nov 7, 2022

Mike talks to long-time Premium member Jamie Graham about restructuring the business and moving towards the EOS model, which entails moving from a high-level Amazon director position to a Training Manager, to spend less time on the business.

 

Jamie Graham is a Premium member that I was able to meet in an MDS event back in 2018. He and his wife Kayleigh own a beauty brand that’s grown up to 6 million pounds in revenue, with a profit margin of 10%.

 

In this episode, the majority of the discussion was focused on these four points:

  • Restructuring to focus on what you enjoy the most
  • Restructuring an ecommerce department: by marketplace or by discipline? 
  • Creating a 3-year business plan and how to incentivize employees to stay on track
  • Focusing on growing the off-Amazon channel of the business

 

Jamie and I also went over how close he is to making a life-changing amount of money as he approaches the endgame with almost 5 years in the business and 7 million pounds of revenue every year. 

 

If you’re interested, you can check out the previous Under the Hood episode here. I’m looking forward to hearing back from Jamie over the next couple of months. With Q4 coming into full swing in just a few weeks, he’ll definitely be having his hands full.

 

Under the Hood is a segment where we do an hour-long coaching call with one of our listeners. We take a look at their businesses, provide honest feedback, offer our best business advice, and answer whatever questions they have. In exchange for the free coaching, we will turn the call into a podcast episode so that our community can benefit as well. It’s a win-win!

 

Get more information about Million Dollar Sellers on EcomCrew.com/MDS.

 

Finally, if you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Oct 31, 2022

We’ve had a lot of challenges in September, particularly those related to importing and developing products. This is not unusual for e-commerce sellers dealing with suppliers on the other side of the world.

 

However, despite these challenges, we’ve had a lot of wins in terms of content in many of our brands. We’ve recently been playing around with some new tools to improve SEO, including an on-page AI tool that boosted our traffic significantly.

 

Timestamps:

  • 1:58 - Why our overall revenue dipped in September
  • 2:47 - YoY updates of the brands
  • 8:43 - Is just-in-time inventory better?
  • 10:17 - The difficulties of designing and launching new products
  • 15:40 - Brand wins for October
  • 17:38 - How we use an on-page AI tool to beef up our content
  • 23:49 - Failing to add country of origin labels

 

Check out the Brand Report that complements this episode. Secret Sauce and EcomCrew Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly Income Report, which contains a more detailed breakdown of our numbers and strategies.

 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. We’d love to hear about what topics you want us to discuss next.

Oct 24, 2022

Our guest, Tomer Rabinovich, is a magician-turned-entrepreneur. Without any formal training in sales, he was able to launch and scale multiple e-commerce brands. But aside from running his own business, Tomer is passionate about helping other sellers through mastermind classes and his live lectures. This time, he’s gone a step further and wrote a book for beginner sellers called Ride the Amazon Wave.

 

In this episode, we talk about the book, how Tomer got started with e-commerce, and the lessons he learned along the way.

 

Timestamps:

  • 2:31 - How it all started for Tomer
  • 5:28 - Failures in e-commerce
  • 11:00 - Difference between Amazon and Shopify and why it’s okay to focus on one platform
  • 13:03 - Why it’s hard to build brand loyalty on Amazon
  • 15:05 - Applying the 6-star experience to land 5-star reviews
  • 21:33 - Not going after the shiny new objects
  • 23:16 - How to scale and systemize your business

Tomer's book, Ride the Amazon Wave, is a great read for Amazon third-party sellers of all levels. You can purchase the book through Amazon, and if you want to reach out to our guest, go to jointopdog.com.


Check out other episodes from the podcast on iTunes, and don’t forget to leave us a review.

Oct 18, 2022

Mike talks about where he’s been the past 3 weeks, and highlights how Masterminds have been instrumental in his business.

 

Today’s episode is a short one – I wanted to give a short life update on what’s been going on during the past few weeks. I’ve been a little absent for work in the past few weeks to attend a wedding, go on an anniversary cruise with my wife, and also to speak at the Sell + Scale Summit.

 

After getting back from Sell + Scale however, I started to feel a little off. That feeling started to suddenly get more intense, and before I knew it, I had caught COVID sometime after getting back from the cruise and until now I still haven’t fully recovered which has really pushed me back on work that I need to catch up on. 

 

Anyway, I wanted to talk about the real meat and potatoes of this episode – Masterminds. If you're new to the podcast, Masterminds are basically moderated groups of ecommerce entrepreneurs that will help keep each other accountable to their yearly, quarterly and monthly goals for their business and personal lives.

 

After just getting back from a weekend with my Mastermind group, I’ve learned that everyone has something that they’re going through, despite how much money they have or how successful they seem to be on the outside. 

 

And it’s not just in personal lives, but in business too. My Mastermind group started out after meeting each other in eCommerce Fuel Live and we first shared the common tips on how to get ahead on Amazon, and the like. 

 

But after 6 to 8 years of getting to know these people, it’s more personal now. We’re here for each other through the tears, through the issues that others have in their personal lives, and we talk about them with each other to hopefully help our lives for the better. 

 

Personally, joining a mastermind group has probably been one the best decisions I’ve made for my business, and I really hope that you'll see how advantageous it is to be part of one. 

 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes

 

Happy selling and I’ll see you on the next one!

Oct 10, 2022

Mike and eCommerceFuel founder Andrew Youderian break down the biggest takeaways from this year’s eCommerce Trends Report and discuss what they mean to online sellers.

 

eCommerceFuel’s eCommerce Trends Report is an annual survey of 7-8 figure store owners that provides a unique and detailed look into which trends are shaping the ecommerce landscape year over year.

 

Joining me for this episode is none other than eCommerceFuel founder Andrew Youderian. We’ll be breaking down the four biggest takeaways from the 2022 edition of the eCommerce Trends Report to paint you a clear picture of the ecommerce ecosystem and how you can take advantage of these insights to grow your business. 

 

Some of the awesome things we talk about include why ROAS is no longer a good success indicator, why raising prices is not as scary as you might think, and what the best ecommerce business model is today. 

 

Timestamps:

  • Introduction to the 2022 eCommerce Trends Report - 1:08
  • Takeaway #1: ROAS Is Wildly Overrated for Success - 4:06
  • Takeaway #2: We’ve Hit Peak Amazon - 8:28
  • Takeaway #3: You Need to Raise Your Prices (Again) - 13:13
  • Sidebar: What seller can learn from artists who constantly reinvent themselves - 22:29
  • Takeaway #4: Manufacturing + Storytelling Crushes All Other Models - 24:53
  • What the eCommerceFuel community is all about - 32:00

 

If you want to get into the nitty gritty details of the survey, be sure to check out the full report here. As always, I enjoyed having Andrew on the podcast, and I’m excited to have him back for more episodes soon. You can check out the eCommerceFuel community on their website or hit him up on LinkedIn.

 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes. Happy selling and I’ll see you on the next one!

Oct 3, 2022

Mike and Steve talk about the brutal truth behind success stories in business and how they manage to keep track of the more important things in life as entrepreneurs.

 

Hey, it’s Mike and Steve here coming at you with a podcast before we go on stage at the Sell + Scale Summit

 

In this episode, we give you a sneak peek into our topic of discussion at the event—brutal truths about success in business. We chose this topic not only to deviate from the usual seller conference topics, but also to bring to fore some equally important aspects about running a business that people don’t really talk about during these events. 

 

This episode is filled with insights about the truth behind happiness vis-a-vis money and luxury, the 4-burner theory that helped us scale our business while maintaining healthy relationships, and how we personally dealt with the common struggles that entrepreneurs have. 

 

Timestamps: 

  • How we chose our topic for the Sell + Scale Summit - 0:42
  • What is The 4-Burner Theory? - 6:00
  • Common misconceptions about success stories in ecommerce - 11:53
  • The value of having friends with the same values as you - 27:27
  • What makes the ‘four burners’ concept so profound and effective - 29:43
  • Why busy is the new stupid - 37:15

 

Lots of thanks to Steve for doing this episode with me. You can check out all his awesome stuff over on mywifequitherjob.com. I’m looking forward to having him back for more podcasts episodes down the road. 

 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes. Until the next one. Happy selling!

Sep 26, 2022

Dave breaks down EcomCrew’s August 2022 Brand Report—our big revenue drivers, the recent strategies we implemented, and our biggest wins and fails for the month.

 

It’s Dave here, and I’m excited to jump on this quick solo podcast to talk about our biggest wins and fails in this August 2022 Brand Report. 

 

For those who are new to the podcast, our Brand Report is a monthly Blog and Podcast update where we give you a sneak peek into our numbers and figures in real time, talk about what’s working (and what’s not), and which marketplace trends factored into our bottomline over the past month. 

 

In this update, I’ll go over why August 2022 turned out to be an awesome month revenue-wise for us, despite historically being slow because of the seasonal products in our portfolio. I also share how we produce videos, rebrand a business, and hire offshore employees, among other good stuff. Let’s get right into it!

 

Timestamps: 

  • Our revenue numbers for August 2022 - 1:29
  • How we produce videos for new brand - 4:47
  • Rebranding one of our existing brands - 7:58
  • Our biggest wins for this month - 9:59
  • A couple of fails this month - 13:22
  • Wrapping up our brand update - 18:22

 

If you want to dive deeper into our numbers for August 2022, head over to ecomcrew.com/august-brand-report, and don’t forget to share how your August went as well! 

 

As always, leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we’ll catch you on the next one!

Sep 19, 2022

Mike and longtime friend Cole South talk about why ecommerce sellers can learn a thing or two from poker pros, the challenges of running a lot of brands, and some awesome new ecommerce tools.

 

As I’ve mentioned dozens of times in this podcast, I was into poker and affiliate marketing before ultimately starting my first ecommerce brand. While some people may find this to be a strange transition, there’s actually quite a few of us who went the same route.

 

Joining me for this episode is Cole South, a longtime friend from way back in my poker days who’s also currently running multiple ecommerce brands himself. 

 

Some of the good stuff we talk about in this entry include why poker pros seem to make great ecommerce entrepreneurs, what makes running multiple ecommerce brands hard (and why sellers still do it anyway), and Cole’s awesome new software tailored to streamlining your ecommerce business.

 

Timestamps: 

  • Why many poker pros get into ecommerce - 1:06
  • How Cole found out about ecommerce - 3:01
  • The challenges and benefits of running many ecommerce brands - 5:21
  • Cole’s current ecommerce brands and niches - 9:40
  • The future of ecommerce and why it’s become harder - 15:18
  • An awesome new tool for ecommerce sellers - 20:13
  • Where to check out all of Synchronize’s features - 26:20

 

I wanna thank Cole for coming on the show, we’d be thrilled to have him back anytime! If you want to learn more about his new software, Synchronize, they’re currently offering a sweet deal exclusively to EcomCrew Podcast listeners. Head over to synchronize.com/ecomcrew. You can also hit Cole up directly on his Twitter.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we’ll see you on the next one!

Sep 13, 2022

Mike and Jake unpack the biggest takeaways from the latest edition of Jungle Scout’s State of the Amazon Seller Report to learn how sellers did this past year and what their plans are moving forward.

 

The State of the Amazon Seller is an awesome annual report by Jungle Scout that gives valuable insights about Amazon sellers every year.

 

In this episode, Jungle Scout’s very own Jake Zaristian joins me in breaking down the most interesting data points and tidbits from the 2022 edition of this report. 

 

We go over topics like the impact of supply chain disruptions to Amazon businesses, the ongoing storage issues plaguing Amazon sellers, rising costs to sell on Amazon, and much more. So, whether you’re new to selling on Amazon or an experienced seller who wants to know what your competitors are doing, this is an episode you can’t miss!

 

Timestamps: 

  • EcomCrew’s limited-time Master Class Mini Bundle offer - 2:01
  • Introduction to Jake from Jungle Scout - 4:12
  • Why most sellers stayed profitable despite supply chain issues (and why some didn’t) - 7:20
  • The ongoing inventory challenges for sellers in 2022 - 11:26
  • How supply chain disruptions affected a quarter of Amazon sellers - 12:05
  • How sellers are using FBM and AGL to minimize storage and fulfillment issues - 13:59
  • The rising costs of selling on Amazon- 20:21
  • Other big challenges for Amazon sellers in 2022 - 23:08
  • Why Amazon is still a great business to get into - 25:10
  • The biggest alternatives to Amazon, according to sellers - 27:50
  • Amazon corporate’s huge disconnect with its third-party sellers - 30:53

 

I want to thank Jake for joining me for this very insightful episode. If you want to dig deeper, check out the full 2022 State of the Amazon Seller Report here. Plus, don’t forget to check out EcomCrew’s 2022 Consumer Behavior Report to get into the mind of Amazon shoppers as well. 



Before we go, don’t forget to check out our best bundle offer yet, featuring 12 expert-led Secret Sauce classes PLUS a full-length FBA For Absolute Beginners Course over on ecomcrew.com/classbundle.

 

Lastly, don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Until the next one, happy selling!

Sep 5, 2022

Society Brands CEO Michael Sirpilla explains why the company’s founder-centric approach to aggregating is a more lucrative and fairer offer to online entrepreneurs.

 

Being the sentimental guy that I am, I’ve always found it a little disheartening how swift it is for entrepreneurs to sell and turn over their businesses to aggregators.

 

However, Society Brands strategy is more of a collaborative effort than a one-and-done business transaction. It’s a concept I can definitely get behind.

 

Unlike many roll-ups where the seller relinquishes full control of the company after a certain period, Society Brands encourages founders to stay on and help steer the ship.

 

Michael (Sirpilla, not Jackness), who took over the company as CEO in January 2022, describes Society Brands as “if an aggregator and an FBA mastermind had a baby.”

 

This strategy offers a win-win scenario for the seller, giving them an opportunity to take an offer, continue to manage the business as it grows, and then fully exit at a higher level down the line.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode:

 

Timestamps:

  • Intro to Michael and what Society Brands is all about - 3:29
  • Why it helps to keep founders onboard - 7:33
  • Society Brands’ valuation multiples -10:52
  • The “founder to president” transition - 13:17
  • How long the transition process takes - 16:29
  • Society Brands’ criteria for acquiring businesses - 19:49
  • What’s happening in the aggregator space? - 21:34
  • Areas where aggregators could succeed or fail -  25:23
  • How to contact Society Brands - 27:53

Michael, thank you for your time. I look forward to doing a followup on this conversation a year or two from now and see how the aggregating space would look then.

 

If you have a business for sale and want to find out if Society Brands is a good match, head over to their website and schedule a call. You can also reach out to Michael on LinkedIn.

 

If you enjoy our podcast, feel free to leave us a review on iTunes. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Aug 29, 2022

After recording this episode, Ben's back to ask about the various strategies that I've been incorporating into our brands to revive our profit margins. 

In this new episode, Ben will be asking me a bunch of questions on how I've managed to increase profitability back to 15% from almost losing money in the beginning of the year. We've covered a few of these strategies in the past, but I thought it'd be nice to have it all in one episode for the audience to take and use for their own brands.

This episode is all about increasing profitability. With Covid-related challenges to consider and inflation in full swing, we thought this was a highly important subject to talk about, especially with Q4 in the horizon. 

If you listened all the way to the end, then you know we have some exciting topics to discuss in upcoming episodes of this series, so make sure to tune in to the podcast.

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Aug 22, 2022

Learn how to take advantage of Amazon’s livestreaming feature with tips from Wizards of Ecom’s Carlos Alvarez.

 

Earlier this year, we got fellow podcaster Carlos Alvarez to share his personal and ecommerce journey with us – you can listen to that episode here.

 

Now, he’s back on the podcast to talk about a topic I wish we could’ve unpacked sooner: Amazon Live!

 

Launched in 2019, this feature isn’t totally new but not all Amazon businesses use it, myself included. This conversation might just be the push I need.

 

Carlos is here to walk us through the process of getting started on this and why brands should hop on the livestreaming bandwagon.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode:

  • Intro - 0:00
  • An overview of Amazon Live - 3:22 
  • The impact of Amazon influencers - 6:25
  • Improving your livestream with hardware - 8:51
  • Requisites to use Amazon Live - 10:17
  • A boost in exposure - 11:52
  • Setting expectations as a new user - 14:09
  • Understanding the demographic - 17:17
  • Carlos’ personal experience with Amazon Live - 19:02
  • Tips on how to create a great livestream - 21:22
  • Get in touch with Carlos - 26:52
  • Putting in the work - 30:08

 

Carlos, thank you for coming again on the podcast and sharing your time with us. Our discussion got me excited to try out Amazon Live for my own brands.

 

For those who have any questions for Carlos, feel free to send him a DM on Instagram @wizardsofecom. If you’ve already listened to the episode, you’d know that Carlos has generously given out his phone number as well. But serious queries only, please!

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Aug 15, 2022

Mike and Dave ponder EcomCrew’s early years as they bid a bittersweet goodbye to the company’s first employee.

 

July was an interesting month. For me, my top line number went down, but my bottom line number went up – thanks to reduced PPC costs, raised product prices, and AGL.

 

Dave, on the other hand, rants about the ridiculous sales tax being imposed on businesses based in British Columbia.

 

We also discuss our takes on 3PL, which Dave and I are approaching very differently: I’m slowly weaning off of it, while Dave is heavily reliant on it (for an inevitable yet valid reason).

 

In more devastating news: Abby, EcomCrew’s employee #1 and brand manager is leaving us. This was bound to happen eventually, but it still feels very sad that it's actually happening.

 

That concludes our July Brand Report. It’s definitely going to be challenging without Abby and we’ll miss her for sure, but that’s life. We wish her all the best in her journey.

 

We never have enough time on the podcast to cover everything in our Brand Report, so if you want to see the full-length report, check out the blogpost here.


As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Aug 8, 2022

Mike is joined by 101 Commerce founder RJ Jalichandra as he talks about the growing pains of being a pioneering FBA aggregator and where the industry might be headed in the coming years.

 

If you’re well versed in the wider ecommerce landscape, you’d know that the FBA aggregator or acquisition industry have become a lucrative business in recent years.

 

RJ is the founder of 101 Commerce, which is considered the first FBA aggregator with institutional backing. Before names like Thrasio went big, there was 101 Commerce.

 

RJ's been on the podcast before, when 101 Commerce was just getting started, and so I thought RJ would be a great resource person to talk about the ins and outs of being an FBA aggregator, how the business works and the current environment of the industry.

 

If you want to listen to our first episode together, you can find it here.

 

Learn about the FBA Aggregator Space in these highlights:

  • Intro - 0:00
  • The genesis of 101 Commerce - 5:16 
  • What kind of businesses do aggregators look for? - 12:17
  • Challenges of being an aggregator - 14:20 
  • RJ’s retiring and unretiring - 16:00
  • Getting back into ecommerce - 15:27
  • The aggregator business model and its challenges - 19:41 
  • The learning curve - 23:28
  • The future of the aggregator space - 26:05 
  • What’s next for RJ? - 31:19 
  • Connect with RJ - 33:16

 

Thank you so much for your time, RJ. It was nice to catch up and chat a bit about the inner workings of the aggregating business.

 

If you need advice on how to sell your brand, you can message RJ on LinkedIn. You can also check out Incline Capital’s website for more information on their services.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Aug 1, 2022

In this yearly review episode, Dave gives an update on how his brand’s been doing the past year, from feeling the fallout of a post-pandemic market to increased competition in the niche.

 

I did the first one of these annual reviews on July 17, 2017. It’s kind of surreal how fast time flies. I’ve always enjoyed these because it makes me take an objective look at my brand.

 

Businesses in certain niches certainly benefited from the lockdown, us included. With people choosing to do more outdoor activities then, we saw a spike in our sales the first two years into the pandemic.

 

However, as the world slowly opened up again and travel resumed, our revenue went down. I’m sure other businesses in this niche are experiencing this as well.

 

The past year wasn’t all that bad though. We had our losses, but we had awesome wins too. I’ve also set some goals for the company that I hope will come to fruition in the coming months.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode: 

  • Intro - 0:00
  • June 2022 revenue - 2:52
  • The Covid bump - 3:31
  • Increased competition - 6:17
  • Decline in TACoS - 8:56
  • Our massive hit product - 12:29
  • Finding a good fulfillment system in Canada - 15:30
  • New hires from the Philippines - 16:30
  • Developing a custom inventory software - 17:40
  • Our losses the past year - 19:20
  • My goals for the next 12 months - 21:25

 

That’s it for my year-in-review podcast episode. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you were able to take away a thing or two from this brief discussion.

 

I also did a blogpost where I elaborate more on these points in detail over at ecomcrew.com. Go check it out and leave a comment. I’d love to know what you guys think.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Jul 25, 2022

Taking a more proactive approach, Mike and Dave talk about the measures they’ve taken to prepare for less-than-ideal market conditions in this Brand Report episode.

 

As we’ve mentioned in our previous episodes, Dave and I spent a good chunk of June in the Philippines spending time with our employees there.

 

We also made good headway on the content website we are launching this month–yes, this month! After several setbacks, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

For me, I worked on improving my margins, which included taking out an Amazon loan and fully transitioning to AGL. It’s definitely a tedious process, but worth it.

 

If you listened to our May Brand Report podcast, you’ll recall that one of Dave’s brands had an IPI score teetering below the required threshold. He’s got an update on that one.

 

Let’s get into our latest Brand Report, shall we? Check out the highlights from this episode:

 

  • Intro - 0:00
  • Our revenue for June - 2:32
  • Average margins in ecommerce - 4:59
  • The impact of the declining economy - 6:18
  • Gearing up for the worst - 10:14
  • What we worked on in June - 12:44
  • The reason behind our new content website’s delay - 15:08
  • Our game plan for the launch - 17:30
  • Transitioning exclusively to AGL - 20:19
  • Dripping in LCL inventory via AGL - 25:07
  • Amazon’s new growth program - 30:25
  • An update on Dave’s IPI score - 32:37

 

That’s it for our June Brand Report. After several delays, I’m so happy to say we’re almost at the finish line. We can’t wait to finally show you our new content website in the next few days!

 

In the meantime, you can check out the blog counterpart of the Brand Report here if you want a more detailed account of what we did last month.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Jul 25, 2022

Taking a more proactive approach, Mike and Dave talk about the measures they’ve taken to prepare for less-than-ideal market conditions in this Brand Report episode.

 

As we’ve mentioned in our previous episodes, Dave and I spent a good chunk of June in the Philippines spending time with our employees there.

 

We also made good headway on the content website we are launching this month–yes, this month! After several setbacks, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

For me, I worked on improving my margins, which included taking out an Amazon loan and fully transitioning to AGL. It’s definitely a tedious process, but worth it.

 

If you listened to our May Brand Report podcast, you’ll recall that one of Dave’s brands had an IPI score teetering below the required threshold. He’s got an update on that one.

 

Let’s get into our latest Brand Report, shall we? Check out the highlights from this episode:

 

  • Intro - 0:00
  • Our revenue for June - 2:32
  • Average margins in ecommerce - 4:59
  • The impact of the declining economy - 6:18
  • Gearing up for the worst - 10:14
  • What we worked on in June - 12:44
  • The reason behind our new content website’s delay - 15:08
  • Our game plan for the launch - 17:30
  • Transitioning exclusively to AGL - 20:19
  • Dripping in LCL inventory via AGL - 25:07
  • Amazon’s new growth program - 30:25
  • An update on Dave’s IPI score - 32:37

 

That’s it for our June Brand Report. After several delays, I’m so happy to say we’re almost at the finish line. We can’t wait to finally show you our new content website in the next few days!

 

In the meantime, you can check out the blog counterpart of the Brand Report here if you want a more detailed account of what we did last month.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

Jul 18, 2022

Here’s a reality check: there’s more to life than just money. Amazon seller and aspiring personal development coach Jonathan Jesper shares his story of grit and resilience.

 

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I am very much aware of how unstable and unpredictable life in the business can be. The journey is never linear.

 

Fellow Vegasite Jonathan Jesper, who has never had a job, has been an entrepreneur his whole life – and he’s no stranger to failure.

 

He lived in a van straight out of high school; went to college and then dropped out; and eventually, as he described, “failed into ecommerce.”

 

Jonathan’s life as an entrepreneur is quite the story. From selling flowers at high school graduations to running his own Amazon business, he certainly knows the hustle.

 

Check out the highlights from this episode: 

  • Intro - 0:00
  • Background on Jonathan - 2:16
  • Jonathan’s early years as an entrepreneur - 3:20
  • Benefits of traveling - 6:19
  • Being “stuck” in our beliefs - 7:32 
  • Transitioning to ecommerce - 9:46 
  • Inventing a market - 13:04 
  • Dealing with failure - 16:01
  • The relativity of success - 20:42 
  • The blueprint of life - 23:16
  • Connecting the dots - 30:36
  • Helpful resources - 34:14

 

That was a great and insightful conversation, Jonathan. Thank you for coming on the podcast. This episode is a reminder that it’s important to reevaluate what success means to us. 

 

Speaking of success, if you want some tips on how to build a successful Amazon business, EcomCrew Premium is open to new members until Friday. Sign up now to get all the cool perks.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

 

Jul 11, 2022

The results are in! In this episode, Mike and Dave unpack their recently concluded Amazon Consumer Behavior survey, which includes a shocker you’ll want to know.

 

Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a survey to pick the brain of today’s Amazon consumer a little bit – to better understand their purchasing habits.

 

What pushes a consumer to check out an item? Which matters more: star rating or number of reviews? With the findings, we hope sellers can leverage them to improve their strategies.

 

We also found out something that we’ve somewhat always suspected. You’ll want to stick around till the end. It’s quite the bombshell. But don’t skip!

 

These are the highlights from this episode:

 

Timestamps: 

  • Intro - 0:00
  • The most important buying holiday - 3:45
  • The deciding factor to make a purchase - 7:50
  • Good star rating vs number of reviews - 10:12
  • The impact of reviews - 13:40
  • Do badges matter? - 18:20
  • Sponsored products - 22:45
  • The real reason why buyers return products - 27:05
  • The impact of returns on ranking - 34:38
  • Shoutout to the team - 36:10

 

We hope you learned a thing or two from our survey. Of course, I can’t end this without recognizing the hard work of our team. This would not have been possible without them.

 

Mind you, we only covered a small portion of the survey, so if you want to see the full report, you can check out www.ecomcrew.com/amazonreport.

 

As always, don’t forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we’ll see you in the next one!

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