Podcasts about buy box experts

Join us for a virtual event where we will dive deep into the world of digital advertising on Amazon DSP. This event is for experienced marketers who use paid advertising but may or may not have had exposure to Amazon's DSP platform, this event is packed with valuable insights and strategies to help you understand the benefits of Amazon DSP and also to help you succeed with your advertising goals. During this online event, you'll learn from industry experts who have mastered the art of Amazon DSP. They will share their knowledge, experience and best practices to help you optimize your campaigns and drive better results. Discover the latest trends, techniques, and tools to leverage Amazon DSP effectively. From audience targeting to creative optimization, we'll cover everything you need to know to maximize your advertising success on Amazon. Don't miss this opportunity to gain a competitive edge and take your digital advertising skills to the next level. We are fortunate to have one of the most experienced set of panellists for this session: Host Tom Waghorn - Head of Training at ClearAds Tom has a career full of Amazon advertising experience and trains the Account Managers at Clear Ads. He also hosts our podcast series over on Spotify - Highway to Sell and has kindly stepped in to host this webinar for us. Guests Dave Vermeulen: Director of DSP at Buy Box Experts Dave Vermeulen is the Director of DSP at Buy Box Experts. In 2001 he founded Seattle Ad Force, Inc. a full service agency located in the Seattle area, where for the last ten years, he supported mid to large advertisers with their DSP advertising strategies. In August of 2019 he joined Egility.co (which later combined with Buy Box Experts)where he built out their DSP efforts. Anne Harrell: Product Solutions Director, DSP Due to my love of marketing and innovation, I've been working in retail media for the better part of the last eight years helping enterprise brands grow their online presence. Over the last three years, I've followed the trends of the industry and shifted my focus to display media, which I wholeheartedly believe is the future of innovative digital advertising. During this time, I've helped countless brands build effective DSP strategies while utilizing advanced measurement tactics (i.e. AMC) to ensure we're accurately measuring success. Now my focus is to better enable brands and sellers alike to utilize these tactics by applying my learnings to the development of Pacvue's features and functionality. Jack Lindberg: Director of Analytics at Mars Agency Based in New York, Jack Lindberg leads the Amazon/ Amazon Marketing Cloud Analytics and the Data Clean Room Practices at The Mars Agency. Jack is passionate about and grounded in using data and technology to accelerate commerce marketing. Prior to joining The Mars Agency, Jack spent time building Pacvue's advertising product. He is also a founding member of Puntalytics, the leading sports analytics Twitter account about NFL punting. He's been cited in renowned publications such as ESPN, The New York Times, and The Athletic. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Jack is a semi-retired professional opera singer with a passion for the arts. He holds degrees in music from Yale College and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

James Thomson is the Managing Partner at Equity Value Advisors, where he supports private equity and branded product leaders with due diligence and strategy consulting to accelerate equity value through eCommerce. He is a Board Member and Investor in Mamenta, Davinci Micro Fulfillment, and MAVI.io. Before his current roles, James was the Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts, a company that offers premium Amazon services to medium-sized and large-sized brands around the world to optimize and grow their businesses.  James continues to immerse himself in the world of Amazon issues. Before Buy Box, he served as the Business Head of Amazon Services — a division of Amazon responsible for recruiting 10s of 1000s of sellers annually to the marketplace. He also served as the First Account Manager for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Before Amazon, James was a management consultant and banker. In this episode… Are you someone who has become a seven-figure seller and wondering how to reach that next level? Often when entrepreneurs reach a level of success, the challenge can be what is there to do next. So, what is the next step? Business leader and e-commerce expert James Thomson suggests these three actions. The first step would be to build a team of experts and delegate responsibilities. Next, start thinking about brand equity and discover ways for your customers to fall in love with your brand. Lastly, execute a three-year plan and stick with it. In this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, join host Josh Hadley as he welcomes the Managing Partner of Equity Value Advisors, James Thomson, to discuss exit strategies and making your business purchase-friendly to eligible buyers. James explains the benefits of diversifying into other e-commerce channels, shares advice with sellers who want to cross seven figures, and answers the question: should you drive traffic to your website or to Amazon? Resources mentioned in this episode: Josh Hadley on LinkedIn eComm Breakthrough Consulting eComm Breakthrough Podcast Email Josh: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.com Hadley Designs Hadley Designs on Amazon James Thomson on LinkedIn Equity Value Advisors Special Mention(s): Steven Pope on LinkedIn Kevin King Norm Farrar on LinkedIn Die With Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins VIZIT Logie Rick Cesari on LinkedIn Related Episode(s): “Four Critical Pillars for Amazon Listing Optimization” “Kevin King's Wicked-Smart Tips for Building an Audience of Raving Fans” “Here's All the Advice You Need to Boost Your Brand Equity With Norm Farrar”

Scott chats with Joseph Hansen, CMO @ Spreetail & CEO @ Buy Box Experts. Joseph is also one of the Top 3 sellers on Amazon in the world and he's determined to break obstacles that many beginners encounter on their journey to amazon success.As a veteran amazon seller, Joseph has plenty of tips to share with anyone looking to up their amazon game.Episode Notes: 0:25 - Joseph Hansen Introduction and Background 4:15 - Performance Marketing 6:10 - Bold Ideas Beat Experience 8:30 - Agency Expertise 11:45 - What Makes Spreetail Unique? 16:00 - Spreetail's Specialization 17:45 - Oversized Products 19:00 - Spreetail's Acquisition BBE (Buy Box Experts) 19:55 - What Performance Marketing Is About 20:35 - Buy Box Experts' Focus 25:00 - Spreetail's Future 28:10 - Lessons From Spreetail and BBE “As a brand owner, a reseller, an aggregator, you have to get in the mind of your customer, … get the honest truth … to create success.” - Joseph 32:05 - Business Wisdom Website: www.spreetail.com/Instagram: www.instagram.com/spreetail/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/josephhansen/ | www.linkedin.com/company/spreetail/life/wearespreetail/

Leadership principles are essential for management professionals to have so they can accomplish their business goals. While there are several styles of leadership and unique theories, all great leaders have similar leadership principles that help them find success. Today's guest is Joseph Hansen, founder and CEO of Buy Box Experts. Inc Magazine ranked his company #2186 on the 2021 Inc 5000 list. Buy Box Experts is a marketing agency for medium to large online sellers and investors of businesses selling on Amazon. They provide website owners and Marketplace sellers with strategic and technical expertise to increase sales velocity and profitability. In this episode, Joseph shares some essential leadership principles that would help you grow your business and how being authentic helps drive company culture. He also talked about the importance of values, how he organizes them into core values and aspirations, and why he does it that way. Discover why having self-awareness is crucial and why it is considered one of the fundamental parts of leadership strengths.   Get the show notes for The Principles of Leadership that Drive Growth with Joseph Hansen at Buy Box Experts Click to Tweet: Listening to a fantastic episode on Growth Think Tank featuring #JosephHansen with your host @GeneHammett https://bit.ly/gttJosephHansen   #PrinciplesofLeadership #GeneHammettPodcast #Inc2021 #GHepisode917 #marketingagency #investorsofbusinesses #Amazon Give Growth Think Tank a review on iTunes!

James Thomson is the Managing Partner at Equity Value Advisors, where he supports private equity and branded product leaders with due diligence and strategy consulting to accelerate equity value through eCommerce. He is a Board Member and Investor in Mamenta, Davinci Micro Fulfillment, and MAVI.io. Before his current roles, James was the Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts, a company that offers premium Amazon services to medium-sized and large-sized brands around the world to optimize and grow their businesses.  James continues to immerse himself in the world of Amazon issues. Before Buy Box, he served as the Business Head of Amazon Services — a division of Amazon responsible for recruiting 10s of 1000s of sellers annually to the marketplace. He also served as the First Account Manager for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Before Amazon, James was a management consultant and banker. In this episode… When it comes to the eCommerce M&A (mergers and acquisitions) space, investing in Amazon aggregator brands can be profitable. Yet, these collectors often lack the strategies to manage and scale their companies effectively, resulting in debt and profit loss. So, how can you facilitate the aggregator business model to optimize your portfolio? When acquiring a portfolio company, you must first develop an M&A strategy to maximize profit. This requires analyzing your portfolio and the price point to determine if the acquisition is right for you. When rebuilding a brand after purchase, it's essential to recruit strong operational teams that understand Amazon's policies and growth prospects. By strategically preparing for your investment and developing the appropriate standard operating procedures, you can leverage aggregators for your portfolio. In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant talks with James Thomson, the Managing Partner at Equity Value Advisors, about the current Amazon aggregator market. James explains the requirements and challenges of the aggregator business model, strategies for optimizing your investment portfolio, and how to drive growth in acquired companies.

James Thomson is the former Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts, a company that offers premium Amazon services to medium-sized and large-sized brands around the world to optimize and grow their businesses. While at Buy Box, James supported brand executives with issues of channel governance, branding governance, online growth strategies, and pricing standards. James continues to immerse himself in the world of Amazon issues. Before Buy Box, James served as the Business Head of Amazon Services — a division of Amazon responsible for recruiting 10s of 1000s of sellers annually to the marketplace. He also served as the First Account Manager for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Before Amazon, James was a management consultant and banker. In this episode… The emergence of Buy with Prime has created a competitive selling environment. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands that sell on Amazon Prime are outperforming those that use alternative platforms such as Shopify. So, how can you optimize your selling channel to serve your consumers better and compete with Amazon sellers? It's essential to offer your consumers the same shipping times they expect from Amazon. To achieve this, you must develop a long-term eCommerce strategy that maximizes your fulfillment networks and leverages quick and efficient delivery methods. By transitioning from third-party logistics companies (3PLs) to a more automated distribution system, you can successfully sell, fulfill, and deliver your products without relying on Amazon fulfillment.   In today's episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant talks with James Thomson, former Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts, to discuss developing an eCommerce strategy to outperform your competitors. James shares how DTC brands can maximize their fulfillment centers to compete with Amazon Prime sellers, the challenge of using Buy with Prime, and how to optimize shipping to your consumers.

Amazon recently announced that it was opening its prime shopping experience to third-party online stores.They are introducing the ‘Buy with prime' option to sellers outside Amazon.This is big news as it will allow sellers to take advantage of Amazon's FBA, free shipping, and returns checkout with Amazon Pay, among many other benefits that customers enjoy with Prime Membership.There is no doubt that sellers will value using Amazon's vast fulfillment and logistics network.But there are some serious questions about this move by Amazon.- What does it mean for Shopify?- Should Shopify allow the Buy with Prime in their stores- Did Amazon do this to nip Shopify's threat in the bud?- How will sellers be affected by this move?To find some answers to these questions, I am joined by my good friend and an Amazon expert, James Thomson. He recently stepped down from the company he co-founded, Buy Box Experts.He helps us understand how this move by Amazon means and how it might impact you as a seller.This is a fascinating discussion that you don't want to miss. Tune In!Key Takeaways- Meet James Thomson (01:13)- The interesting evolution of Amazon over the years (03:25- Why EVERY brand MUST understand the Amazon language (08:22)- What the Buy with Prime feature means (14:33)- Is Amazon trying to counter Shopify? (22:19)- Amazon Pay option at checkout for third party stores (24:50)- The billion-dollar question (26:31)- Do brands need a Shopify store (35:40)- Why Amazon is a necessary evil (47:47)Additional resources:- Schedule a FREE consultation with the Ave7 team- Grab the FREE Amazon Seller Central Checklist- Get the book “The Amazon Jungle” book by Jason Boyce- Learn more about Avenue 7 Media----Day 2 Podcast has a goal of helping Amazon sellers learn how to launch, grow and protect their brand on the world's largest online marketplace (and beyond).Follow us on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode!

Nich Weinheimer is the General Manager of Strategy and Commerce at Skai, an enterprise marketing intelligence platform. The platform includes a myriad of data-driven products for market intelligence, omnichannel media activation, testing, and measurement that are based on 15 years of experience building within Google and Facebook. Skai enables brands to make predictions, improve strategic planning, and drive growth on essential customer channels. In his current role, Nich delivers innovative software and data solutions to the rapidly-evolving landscape of retailers and brands. With over a decade of experience in digital advertising, Nich has held leadership roles, including Head of Advertising for Buy Box Experts, Co-founder and Managing Partner of WNW International, Data Consulting and Enterprise Sales at Ekata, and Director of Sales Operations at Commerce Hub. In this episode… The continued advancements in retail media present a new set of challenges for brands and retailers who must transition from traditional to digital media. So, how can your business stay ahead of this shift to drive performance and growth? Driving growth in digital retail media requires understanding and managing your brand's data to leverage upper funnel media. AI programs such as digital signal processing (DSP) simplify this process by deciphering all your data to help you anticipate trends. DSPs translate digital signals so you can determine when to market your brand to the consumer based on user intent and competition.  In today's episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant sits down with Nich Weinheimer, General Manager of Strategy and Commerce at Skai, to discuss navigating the shift in retail media. Nich covers some of the top challenges brands and retailers face across the eCommerce continuum, the benefits of investing in DSP, and how retailers can scale their businesses using display media.

Thaddaeus Hay is the Chief Revenue Officer at Buy Box Experts, a business that helps brands control and grow their Amazon business. He's a husband and father, a Christian, and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In this episode we discuss the importance of being vulnerable and being able to be open with your internal struggles and why that can really help with your mental health. Letting faith guide the way in business and even applying the principle of repentance have been some big things that have helped Thaddaeus in his career and business ventures. He tells me about his big goal to sell his company and what his expectations of selling it would be versus what he actually felt afterward and why it's important to not just seek after wealth and the glory of financial success. About Thaddeaus's family 1:00What changed to allow him to be emotionally vulnerable and open 5:02Should you be open and emotionally present with everyone? 11:38What faith and repentance means to him 14:54Starting his business 23:12Being acquired by Buy Box 32:08What he expected after becoming a millionaire 36:55Keeping himself grounded 42:31Defining success 54:36“I've never had a happier, more real relationship with my wife, with my kids, with my family, and my parents even. I struggled for a long time with my parents and the relationships, and over time we've become better at this honest and true, being open and vulnerable. And I think vulnerability really is, in a sense, it's honesty. It's complete and utter honesty, and that is something that God has commanded us to do.” 10:42

Darcy Meier is the Director for eCommerce Category and Customer Development at Newell Brands, the company behind trusted names like Graco, Baby Jogger, Sharpie, and Dymo. Darcy was also Senior Director for eCommerce at Vi-Jon, where she managed the company's private label relationship with Amazon and developed their multi-year e-commerce business strategy. Throughout her career, she's also worked at Amazon as a Vendor Manager and Walmart as a Buyer. In this episode… As more buyers shop online, e-commerce has become an essential channel for brands to reach more customers and remain relevant in the digital age. But, as top brands pivot and strengthen their hold in the e-commerce space, they find themselves facing tough challenges. Obstacles like steep competition and brand misuse by third-party sellers can stop new businesses before they even get started. On top of that, companies also struggle to make their business sustainable within the Amazon ecosystem. On this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson and Darcy Meier, Newell Brands Director for eCommerce Category and Customer Development, run through some of the biggest challenges brands face on the Amazon platform. Darcy shares tips on how organizations can grow and protect their brand on Amazon. She also mentions ways companies can leverage online data to guide future innovations and help them strengthen their position in the e-commerce market.

Scott Letourneau is the CEO of Nevada Corporate Planners, a company that helps e-commerce sellers launch their US businesses and address issues with entity formations, sales tax compliance, banking, and more. Scott is also the CEO of Sales Tax System, a firm that works with startup e-commerce sellers and retailers worldwide to help them effectively register for sales tax in the US. Matt Lovell is a Founding Partner of Well Insurance, a full-service e-commerce insurance agency. Well Insurance specializes in helping Amazon sellers stay compliant. Matt is also a Partner at Vaughn, Geiger & Associates, a firm that delivers quality insurance solutions to individuals in Kentucky. He has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry and holds a bachelor's degree from Western Kentucky University. In this episode… Running any type of business involves some level of risk. This risk could be related to customers, suppliers, products, or the e-commerce marketplace. Additionally, different online sellers face different types of risks based on the products they sell. So, what do Amazon sellers, both domestic and foreign, need to know about product liability requirements, purchasing insurance, and becoming Amazon compliant? According to Matt Lovell and Scott Letourneau, there are many factors that impact an e-commerce seller's business risks — and they're here to share their top tips for protecting your Amazon business today. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Scott Letourneau from Sales Tax System and Matt Lovell from Well Insurance to discuss the recent product liability requirements being enforced by Amazon. Together, they talk about the factors that affect the cost of product liability insurance coverage, what third-party sellers need to know about staying compliant on Amazon, and their advice for reducing your e-commerce business risks. Stay tuned.

Liz Adamson is the VP of Advertising at Buy Box Experts. She has been working in e-commerce for over a decade, including founding her firm, Egility, which merged a couple of years ago with Buy Box Experts. Liz specializes in helping brands develop marketing and advertising strategies for e-commerce growth. Over the years, she has worked with brands that leverage the Amazon channel by guiding their executives through all aspects of marketing beyond just PPC. In this episode… There are many paid and unpaid techniques that brands can use to market themselves on the Amazon channel. Most brands use paid advertising techniques which often require significant monetary investments. These brands don't know that they can leverage unpaid advertising techniques to increase awareness for their product listings, drive traffic, and convert leads into returning customers. To do this, brands have to be very creative. They have to identify and understand their customers, target them in their marketing, and show them how they stand to benefit from purchasing the brand's products. Liz Adamson, an advertising expert, advises brands to make good use of social media, live video marketing, work with influencers, and optimize their product listings and storefronts. It is also essential to leverage their product packaging to create great customer experiences and increase engagement. Liz Adamson, the VP of Advertising at Buy Box Experts, is James Thomson's guest in this episode of the Buy Box Experts Podcast, where they talk about building an Amazon brand through marketing beyond PPC. Liz shares her strategies for optimizing and creating high-quality Amazon product listings, building great storefronts, and discusses the different marketing methods Amazon provides brands to help them with advertising. Stay tuned.

Kelly Stojka is an Account Executive with TaxJar, a sales tax software company that helps businesses of all sizes automate and manage their sales tax lifecycle across multiple channels. TaxJar's cloud-based platform simplifies sales tax compliance to remove barriers for growth for businesses. Prior to TaxJar, Kelly held Account Executive roles at a number of software and service firms, including Flock and Lokion. She holds a bachelor's degree in cognitive science from the University of California, Berkeley. In this episode… The 2018 Wayfair Supreme Court ruling had a huge impact on the way sales tax was collected and filed in the US. This affected not only sellers with physical stores, but also e-commerce sellers who sell their products across state lines. So, what do these sellers need to know about sales tax compliance? Unknown to many businesses, several states use information taken from Amazon to go after non-compliant e-commerce sellers. According to Kelly Stojka, this is why it's crucial for sellers to keep good records of their returns. As a sales tax compliance expert, Kelly is here to share her advice to Amazon sellers looking to avoid the costs of non-compliance and better manage their sales tax lifecycle. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Kelly Stojka, an Account Executive with TaxJar, to discuss how the 2018 Wayfair ruling impacted sales tax compliance for e-commerce sellers. Kelly explains what Amazon sellers need to do to remain compliant, how to navigate compliance across different states, and the valuable services TaxJar provides for e-commerce entrepreneurs.

Yadin Shemmer is the Founder and CEO of Intrinsic, a company that acquires and accelerates digital-first health and wellness brands. Before that, Yadin served as the CEO and President of three pharmaceutical and health-related businesses, all of which had successful exits. Yadin holds an MBA from the London Business School and a BA in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode… Starting and successfully scaling an e-commerce brand in the health and wellness sector can be challenging. There are many regulatory and packaging requirements that brands have to meet before they can start selling to consumers, and this often creates barriers to entry on Amazon. As an investor in private label health and wellness brands, Yadin Shemmer has some tried-and-true methods for finding, evaluating, and selecting brands with growth potential. And, once he's acquired a brand, Yadin and his team work to improve the brand's content, pricing, and advertising strategies, all with the goal of expanding and scaling the business. So, what is Yadin's advice to brand owners and investors hoping to succeed in the health and wellness space on Amazon? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Yadin Shemmer, the Founder and CEO of Intrinsic, about how Yadin's company evaluates and invests in health and wellness e-commerce brands. They discuss the common concerns brand owners have when selling on Amazon and share some practical strategies these sellers can use to make their businesses more attractive to investors. Stay tuned.

Jack Bijou is the Head of Growth at Riverbend Consulting, a consulting company that helps Amazon sellers with account reinstatements and protection, FBA reimbursements, and editorial reviews. Prior to joining Riverbend Consulting, Jack was the Head of Sales at PRIMEXCHANGE and the Head of Growth at Project Retail. He studied Business Management and Marketing at the City University of New York's Brooklyn College. In this episode… As an Amazon seller, do you know how Amazon's editorial review program works? Is your e-commerce brand eligible to join the program, and if so, what are the benefits of having your products reviewed on the platform? In his role at Riverbend Consulting, Jack Bijou has been working with e-commerce brands to help them drive traffic and increase conversions on Amazon through editorial review articles. He has seen the impact these articles have on generating sales and revenue for brands. Now he's here to share how you can start taking advantage of this great marketing initiative today. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Jack Bijou, the Head of Growth at Riverbend Consulting, about Amazon's editorial review program. They discuss how the program works, talk about its requirements for brands, and explain how it benefits Amazon sellers. Stay tuned.

Sanjay Chandiram is the Co-founder and CEO of Kaliber Global, a premier brand collective and top 100 private label toy seller on Amazon. He also founded ProMark, a leading Amazon brand management agency, in 2018. Previously, Sanjay worked at companies including PwC, Kaiser Permanente, and Infosys BPM, where he gained diverse management consulting, process optimization, and project management experience. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Chuck Gregorich is the Co-founder of Net Health Shops LLC and Net Pet Shops LLC, multi-channel home decor and pet product e-commerce companies that import from several countries and sell on over 20 marketplaces in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Before this, Chuck was the CEO of Lorman Education Services, a national leader of continuing education seminars in North America. He holds a degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Rick Fung is the CEO of MotoShield Pro, a company that offers revolutionary nano coating protection for your entire car, inside and out. For over six years, MotoShield Pro has been achieving its mission of bringing customers the most advanced formulations in ceramic coatings. As CEO, Rick is skilled in project management, strategic planning, sales, and more. In this episode… Amazon FBA sellers that regularly source their inventory from overseas know the adverse effects that shipping delays and increased shipping costs can have on a business. They can lead to high unit costs, which may mean higher selling prices and, therefore, reduced sales. These are the challenges most US-based e-commerce sellers have been facing since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. For over a year, there have been shortages and delays in getting containers — and even when available, the shipping charges have more than tripled. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by e-commerce sellers Sanjay Chandiram, Chuck Gregorich, and Rick Fung to discuss how shipping delays and increased shipping costs have impacted Amazon brands. The sellers talk about the changes they've made to reduce overall business costs, the lessons they've learned over the last year, and their thoughts on the future of the e-commerce market.

Yoni Kozminski is the Founder and CEO of Escala, a low-cost, boutique process improvement and digital transformation consultancy for Amazon and e-commerce businesses. Escala reinforces sellers' abilities to scale their businesses to multimillion-dollar status and beyond. As a serial entrepreneur, Yoni is also the Founder and CEO of MultiplyMii, an offshore staffing solution for global Amazon and e-commerce businesses. He also hosts the Successful Scales podcast, where he speaks to business owners and early startup employees about their roads to success. In this episode… Documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs) is one of the best things an e-commerce brand can do to grow efficiently and scale. However, most Amazon-centric brand owners don't document their SOPs as they build their businesses. This ends up posing a great challenge later on when they hope to transfer knowledge to new hires or exit their brands. With the increased demand for investments in FBA brands, it is becoming more and more important for brand owners to think about growing a business that is both scalable and sellable. That's where Yoni Kozminski comes in. Yoni and his team at Escala help business owners analyze, build, and document their SOPs to effectively prepare for a future exit. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Yoni Kozminski, the Founder and CEO of Escala, about his best practices for documenting SOPs for e-commerce brands. Yoni explains how he helps business owners increase revenue, scale effectively, and prepare for a successful exit. He also shares the common mistakes businesses make when documenting SOPs. Stay tuned.

Carlos Alvarez is the Founder and CMO of Wizards of Ecom, an in-person and online e-commerce school that is taught by sellers for sellers. As an Amazon white hat marketer and consultant, Carlos also leads Wizards of Amazon, the world's largest Meetup group for Amazon sellers. His goal is to help brands take advantage of selling on Amazon and encourage entrepreneurs to gain financial independence through e-commerce and digital marketing. Carlos has over 20 years of e-commerce experience and has built his own Amazon brands into multimillion-dollar businesses. He is also the Founder and CEO of Blue Bird Marketing Solutions, a company that helps brand owners grow their brands both on and off of Amazon. In this episode… Are you considering selling your private label brand on Amazon? Have you been wondering if now is the right time? If not now, when? According to Amazon marketer and consultant Carlos Alvarez, it's important to make your brand as attractive as possible when preparing for an exit. As he says, you have to leverage all the digital marketing tools and strategies available, including ranking for keywords and building an online community. Today, he's here to discuss his decades of e-commerce expertise and share his sage advice for current Amazon sellers. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, Carlos Alvarez, the Founder and CMO of Wizards of Ecom, joins James Thomson to share his tips for boosting your sales and successfully exiting your Amazon brand. Carlos talks about the important considerations that go into making your brand as attractive as possible, the biggest concerns he hears about from private label sellers, and his tips for determining when to sell your business. Stay tuned.

Andy Slamans is the Co-founder of Amazing Freedom, a program that helps people build businesses on Amazon and scale to $1 million per year in sales. Within Amazing Freedom, Andy also runs the mastermind group, Amazon Seller Tribe, where he teaches sellers how to grow private label brands of their own. In addition to this, Andy is a multimillion-dollar brand creator who has successfully launched his own 7-figure brands on Amazon. His goal with Amazing Freedom is to empower other sellers to achieve the same financial freedom and success. In this episode… To build a successful brand on Amazon, business owners must know how to maximize direct-to-consumer sales. This is what drives success for the top-performing businesses in the marketplace. Because of this, new private label brand owners should focus on creating unique selling points in order to compete with large, established brands — especially if they're selling in niche categories. While building his private label brand on Amazon, Andy Slamans grew his direct-to-consumer sales by ensuring that he never ran out of stock. This strategy helped him maintain his rank and continue to improve and scale his brand. He also focused on providing great customer service to stand out from the competition. So, what is Andy's advice to new and current brand owners looking to achieve success on Amazon? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, Andy Slamans, the Founder of Amazing Freedom and the Amazon Seller Tribe mastermind, joins James Thomson to talk about how to leverage direct-to-consumer sales on Amazon. Together, they discuss the importance of creating a unique selling point, how working with influencers has impacted Andy's business, and his advice for successfully selling your private label brand. Stay tuned.

Ian Sells is the Founder and CEO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), a network of entrepreneurs with specific e-commerce knowledge and verified annual revenue of over $1 million. With more than 400 members, MDS represents over $4 billion a year in sales, much of it through the Amazon Marketplace. Ian is also the CMO of Elite Seller, an all-in-one Amazon seller software suite, and the CEO of RebateKey, a rebate and coupon site that helps savvy online shoppers save hundreds of dollars a month. In this episode… What is one of the best decisions that entrepreneurs can make when building a business on Amazon? According to Ian Sells, it is to join a mastermind group that gives business owners a place to share their knowledge and ideas. Through such groups, entrepreneurs can learn what works — and what doesn't — when growing an Amazon business and preparing for a successful exit. Many members of Ian's mastermind have successfully sold and exited their businesses. As he says, they have learned that brand owners can effectively negotiate with FBA aggregators about an offer. They have also learned that timing is critical when selling an e-commerce business. Now, Ian is here to discuss these valuable lessons and share his advice for current Amazon sellers looking to exit their businesses. Ian Sells, the Founder and CEO of Million Dollar Sellers (MDS), joins James Thomson on this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to discuss the value of joining an Amazon seller mastermind group. Ian explains how members who have sold and exited their businesses can effectively help new entrepreneurs prepare for successful exits. He also talks about the benefits of creating and documenting standard operating procedures and negotiating with aggregators for better offers. Stay tuned.

Steve Simonson is a lifetime entrepreneur who has founded, purchased, and sold numerous companies over the past 30 years. Currently, he is the Founder of the Catalyst88 MasterMind and the Managing Director of SYMO Global, a consultation practice with a team of experienced marketing and operational executives. Steve also runs the Awesomers.com podcast and website for entrepreneurs. In this episode… Within mastermind groups, it's easy for the conversation to solely focus on the small stuff — the hacks and tactics that come from years of experience in entrepreneurship. Lifetime entrepreneur Steve Simonson, on the other hand, would rather focus on the big picture: how to build a substantial business. With Steve's Catalyst88 MasterMind, his mission is to help Amazon brand owners master the full process of running a business. He helps them perfect their strategies, improve their systems, and scale their brands to success. Now, with the recent interest in investing in private label brands, Steve also shares his expertise on creating an effective exit strategy. So, what is his advice for Amazon entrepreneurs looking to sell their brands? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by the Catalyst88 MasterMind Founder Steve Simonson to talk about his members' thoughts on the recent changes in the FBA space. Steve discusses the rising interest in investing in private label brands, the top concerns among Amazon entrepreneurs, and his tips for crafting an effective exit strategy for your business. Stay tuned.

Norm Farrar, also known by his nickname, “The Beard Guy,” is the Co-founder of the Centurion League, a mastermind group for Amazon-centric private label sellers. He is an entrepreneur, speaker, and e-commerce expert who is passionate about helping business owners create a strong support network and achieve their highest potential. Norm is also the host of the Lunch with Norm podcast, as well as the President of HONU Worldwide, the Co-founder of AMZ and Beyond, and the CEO of prReach. In this episode… Investing in the right operating procedures and systems is very important if you're hoping to sell your private label business down the road. This is because these factors make brands much more attractive to investors and FBA aggregators looking to invest in profitable businesses. This is what Norm Farrar and the members of his Centurion League mastermind group have learned from their experiences selling and exiting businesses on Amazon. They have also learned the importance of staying on top of your competitors, diversifying your product lines, and identifying the right time to sell your business. Today, Norm is here to discuss these valuable takeaways and many more.  Norm Farrar, the Co-founder of the Centurion League, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to discuss the importance of investing in your operating procedures and systems when preparing for an exit. Together, they talk about the main concerns of current mastermind members, how to make your business more attractive to investors, and the best ways to build a successful brand on Amazon. Stay tuned.

Kevin King is the Founder of Billion Dollar Seller Summit, an event for large sellers leveraging the Amazon channel. He is also the Co-founder of Freedom Ticket, a training and mentoring program for Amazon private label sellers. In addition to this, Kevin runs Helium 10 Elite, a webinar and networking program for advanced sellers looking to scale their businesses quickly. Kevin has been involved in e-commerce for over 25 years, and he first began selling on Amazon and eBay in 1999. Since then, he has developed, sourced, and sold hundreds of products on Amazon, generating millions of dollars in gross revenue. In this episode… There are many key steps involved in starting and successfully growing an e-commerce brand on Amazon. These include putting the right systems and processes in place, hiring the right people and agencies to work with, and implementing the right financial structures. However, with increased demand for private label FBA brands, it is also important for new brand owners to start their businesses with the mindset that they may want to sell a few years down the line. Because of this, brand owners should start preparing for an exit early. So, what do you need to know to effectively position your Amazon brand for a future sale? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Kevin King, the Founder of Billion Dollar Seller Summit and the Co-founder of Freedom Ticket, to discuss how FBA private label brand owners can prepare for an exit when starting their businesses. Kevin explains how his mastermind helps brands prepare for a future exit and shares the concerns his members have about selling their businesses. Stay tuned.

In this Prime Talk Podcast Video Sponsored by GETIDA – James Thomson - CSO - Buy Box Experts - Amazon Selling and Long Term Success, shares his personal journey into eCommerce. About James Thomson - https://www.buyboxexperts.com/ James Thomson was fortunate to have learned first-hand from thousands of brands and sellers online, he is in the business of advisory services and education, supporting brand executives with issues of channel governance, branding governance, online growth strategies, and pricing standards. His role at Buy Box Experts, a performance marketing agency supporting brands selling on Amazon. Earlier, served as the business head of Amazon Services -- the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting tens of thousands of sellers annually to the Amazon marketplace. He also served as the first account manager for the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. Prior to Amazon, he was a management consultant and banker. Find out more about GETIDA: https://getida.com/​​​ Please subscribe to our channel and share your thoughts and comments below. Stay safe and healthy in the meantime! #buyboxexperts #jamesthomson #primetalk  

Brandon Young is the Head of the Inner Circle Mastermind for private label brands leveraging the Amazon channel. He also runs Seller Systems, a mastery training company for entrepreneurs, brand owners, and brand managers. At Seller Systems, Brandon and his team teach sellers how to research, start, and scale their Amazon e-commerce businesses. Brandon began selling on Amazon in 2015, starting with arbitrage and reselling. Seeking a more scalable business model, he pivoted to wholesale and private label, and in June 2016, he launched his first private label products. Less than five years later, Brandon has scaled the business to multiple brands and eight figures in annual revenue. In this episode… When it comes to shopping on Amazon, many customers don't care very much about brand loyalty. Typically, they buy whichever products best meet their needs. For this reason, it's important for private label brand owners to implement strategies that help them build loyalty and generate repeat customers. With more FBA aggregators showing interest in private label businesses, sellers are starting to spend more time on their branding. As Brandon Young says, one of the best ways to create a brand that boosts customer loyalty is to focus on building relationships with customers after a purchase. So, what are Brandon's strategies for effectively engaging with customers and generating brand loyalty for your private label business? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Brandon Young, the Founder of Seller Systems and Head of the Inner Circle Mastermind, to talk about preparing a business for sale and building brand loyalty on and off of Amazon. Brandon explains how to re-engage with customers after their first purchase, the importance of encouraging repeat sales, and why brand owners should know who they're selling to. Stay tuned.

Melissa Simonson is an e-commerce expert and the General Manager of Empowery eCommerce Cooperative, a nonprofit that helps e-commerce entrepreneurs join forces with like-minded brand owners. Melissa has spoken at a number of events, including the Empowery Women's Conference, the White Label Expo, and more. She is passionate about helping e-commerce entrepreneurs improve their businesses and achieve success. In this episode… How can you scale your Amazon private label business from zero to $1 million in revenue? When is the right time to sell your profitable business? And, how can you determine the best exit strategy once you are ready to sell? According to e-commerce expert Melissa Simonson, the recent interest in FBA private label businesses has provided an exciting opportunity for Amazon sellers — particularly those who didn't expect to attract investors. However, it can be challenging for entrepreneurs to know the right steps to take when exiting their businesses. Luckily, Melissa's here to share her tips for building your brand on Amazon and successfully preparing it for a sale. Melissa Simonson, the General Manager of Empowery eCommerce Cooperative, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to discuss the common questions and concerns of current Amazon entrepreneurs. Melissa shares her advice for attracting investors, preparing your business for a sale, and determining the best exit strategy for your brand. She also shares how Empowery helps Amazon sellers improve their businesses and achieve success. Stay tuned.

Dr. Oliver Dlugosch is the Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Operations at Razor Group, a Berlin-based company that buys Amazon FBA merchants. Before this, Dr. Dlugosch worked as a Senior Consultant at McKinsey & Company and managed the marketing for Fortuna Düsseldorf, a German soccer club. He earned his Ph.D. in Economic Sciences from The University of Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) and his master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Düsseldorf. Brian Strini is the Senior Vice President of the North American branch of Razor Group. Prior to joining Razor Group, he worked in venture capital and private equity M&A roles at firms such as Anheuser-Busch, Goldman Sachs, and Quintana Capital Group. He holds a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from London Business School. In this episode… Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been an enormous increase in e-commerce businesses across industries. This has led to a rise in competition for investors, and many firms have resorted to cold-calling brands in order to make a deal. However, this typically leaves brand owners feeling bombarded and overwhelmed with offers. So, what is the best outreach approach for aggregators looking to make a valuable investment? According to Dr. Oliver Dlugosch and Brian Strini, it's important for FBA aggregators to consider a brand owner's needs and desires when contacting them about a sale. At their firm, Razor Group, the team avoids cold-calling and instead opts for other forms of outreach, such as email. This way, the brand owner has time to process the offer — and prepare for a profitable sale. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Dr. Oliver Dlugosch and Brian Strini from Razor Group to discuss the best ways to contact FBA brand owners about a sale. Together, they compare Razor Group's process for investing in US brands versus European brands and explain their tried-and-true outreach approach. They also share their expert advice for current FBA investors. Stay tuned.

Mindy Fashaw is the Chief Operating Officer at Pacvue, an enterprise platform that helps brands, sellers, and agencies optimize their e-commerce advertising. Clients use Pacvue to programmatically manage their campaigns on Amazon, Walmart, and other marketplaces in order to lower costs, grow share of voice, and increase sales. Before joining Pacvue, Mindy held leadership roles at Amazon and Newell Brands. Dave Vermeulen is the Director of DSP Advertising for Buy Box Experts. In 2001, Dave founded Seattle Ad Force, Inc., a full-service agency that supports mid-sized and large advertisers with their DSP advertising strategies. His specialties include DSP advertising, programmatic media buying and planning, mobile advertising, and more. In this episode… In order for e-commerce sellers to grow and scale on Amazon, it's essential that they effectively target potential customers and drive them to their product listings. While many sellers have used Amazon sponsored ads for this purpose, it may be time to start incorporating another strategy: Amazon DSP. Amazon DSP enables brands to programmatically buy display ads on and off Amazon to reach a bigger audience and promote their products. Amazon DSP also helps brands and advertisers improve their organic rankings, remarket to customers, and collect valuable data. So, what do you need to know about Amazon DSP to start boosting your e-commerce business today? In this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Mindy Fashaw and Dave Vermeulen to discuss what e-commerce sellers need to know about Amazon DSP. Mindy and Dave discuss the differences between Amazon DSP versus sponsored ads, the types of Amazon sellers that should use Amazon DSP, and the benefits of Pacvue's Amazon DSP software. Stay tuned.

Christian Salza is the Managing Director of Berlin Brands Group, a firm that creates, acquires, and grows brands globally. At Berlin Brands Group, Christian manages M&A responsibilities and drives global expansion. Before this, he held senior roles at multiple firms that built and sold brands online. Christian has over 20 years of experience in corporate and start-up environments across Europe, the United States, and Asia. He is also a Board Member of Talentroad GmbH and a Member of YPO's Berlin chapter. In this episode… With the recent interest in FBA private label brands on Amazon, most aggregators and investors choose to focus solely on brands within this marketplace. However, buying Amazon-centric brands may be limiting your growth potential. So, how can you broaden your investments beyond Amazon? As Christian Salza advises, aggregators should consider buying brands in other e-commerce marketplaces. By optimizing the unique demand of each marketplace, you can scale your business to global success — without the limitations of the Amazon platform. This is the secret behind Berlin Brands Group, a firm that has been successfully acquiring and building private label brands for over 15 years. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Christian Salza, the Managing Director of Berlin Brands Group, about the value of investing in FBA brands in different marketplaces. Christian shares his advice for buying brands outside of the Amazon marketplace and explains how his firm evaluates potential brands for sale. He also talks about Berlin Brands Group's strategies for achieving long-term success. Stay tuned.

Sebastian Funke is the Co-founder and CEO of The Stryze Group, a Berlin-based firm that builds and acquires direct-to-consumer brands from outside entrepreneurs. The team at Stryze takes brands to the next level using deep domain expertise, manpower, and capital. Prior to founding Stryze, Sebastian launched and led several firms, including five companies in the e-commerce space. In this episode… Many entrepreneurs start private label businesses on Amazon as a side hustle to make some extra cash. However, as they continue building their brand, they are faced with some difficult decisions: whether to hire employees, when to expand their product line, and, most importantly, how and if they should sell their businesses. With more and more Amazon entrepreneurs choosing to exit their side hustles, it's becoming increasingly important for brand owners to prepare for a future sale. According to Sebastian Funke, the best way to position your business for an exit is to develop a consistent product portfolio and invest in your branding. So, what are some of his tips for successfully selling your private label brand? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Sebastian Funke, the Co-founder and CEO of The Stryze Group, about how to build and sell a successful brand on Amazon. Together, they discuss the future of FBA investments, Sebastian's tips for preparing a brand for sale, and what makes The Stryze Group different from other FBA investors. Stay tuned.

Gabi Bar is the Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Technology Commerce Management (TCM). TCM delivers the e-commerce aggregator industry's first predictive, AI-driven e-commerce performance optimization. Founded in 2016, TCM now operates e-commerce businesses on Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Walmart, WooCommerce, and more. In this episode… With thousands of new FBA private label brands hitting the market each year, there has never been more data and information available to both sellers and investors. However, many aggregators don't know how to leverage this data to accurately pinpoint and evaluate a profitable brand. So, how can you avoid getting lost in this influx of data on Amazon? According to Gabi Bar, the key is to utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning. By leveraging this big data in the private label space, his company has successfully optimized the evaluation process and identified high-growth brands to invest in. Now, he's here to share his data-driven process and expert strategies with you. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Gabi Bar, the Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Technology Commerce Management (TCM), about the value of big data when acquiring private label brands. Gabi explains how his firm leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify successful FBA private label brands to invest in. He also shares his tips for determining the right time to sell and effectively preparing for an exit. Stay tuned.

Sam Hörbye is the Co-founder of Olsam Group, a UK-based firm that buys and grows Amazon FBA brands. Olsam Group's mission is to be the first point of contact for Amazon sellers looking to achieve an amazing exit and continue to profit as their brand grows. Before this, Sam was the Team Lead Manager at Amazon, where he managed some of the UK's largest third-party sellers on Amazon's worldwide marketplaces. He also started, scaled, and sold his own category-leading Amazon FBA business, Beechmore Books. In this episode… How do you know when it's the right time to sell your Amazon private label business? What steps can you take to ensure that your brand will achieve the most profitable exit possible? According to Sam Hörbye, there are a few key actions that every FBA private label brand owner should take before trying to sell their business. Most importantly, they should prepare their finances. As Sam says, Amazon sellers need to know what their profit margins are and what their businesses are worth, as these will play a huge role in valuing their brand. So, what other steps can you take to boost the value of your private label brand before a sale? Sam Hörbye, the Co-founder of Olsam Group, joins James Thomson on this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to talk about his process for investing in FBA private label brands on Amazon. Sam explains how he identifies and evaluates profitable businesses for sale, his best practices for partial exits, and the various ways he leverages his former Amazon experience at his current company. Stay tuned.

In today's episode, Yoni sat down with James Thomson - Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts. Buy Box Experts is a 200+ person agency, supporting brand executives who seek to control and grow their Amazon channel businesses. James served as the business head of Amazon Services during the early days of his career - the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting tens of thousands of sellers annually to the Amazon Marketplace. He also served as the first account manager for the Amazon FBA program. With his background and expertise in the Amazon industry, he shares with us how it's like working at Amazon and all the amazing things he's learned about scaling efficiently, problem-solving, data-driven decision making, and even recruitment. Topics covered: Working on solving big problems Scaling efficiently using data Working on the right problems Competition Recruitment Billion-dollar ideas Download our FREE Financial Planning Template for Amazon Sellers: https://bit.ly/multiplymii-free-financial-planning-template LET'S CONNECT: LinkedIn Instagram MultiplyMii Escala Successful Scales This podcast is also available on the Successful Scales YouTube channel.

Nick Tuzenko is the Founder and Managing Director of Accel Club, a firm that acquires Amazon FBA businesses. With expertise in e-commerce, technology, and M&A, the team at Accel Club is disrupting the FBA industry and boosting brands to the next level. Before founding Accel Club, Nick served as the Managing Director of Busfor, a company that streamlined the bus transportation industry by developing technological solutions to connect bus operators and carriers with travelers. In this episode… For FBA private label brands looking to sell their businesses, it can be difficult to know where or when to start in order to achieve the most profitable exit. Because of this, many brands choose to wait six to 12 months to put their business on the market with the hope that the value of their brand will increase. However, this may not be the best strategy for current sellers. According to Nick Tuzenko, there are some timely factors that these brands should consider first. As Nick says, these include the current high demand for FBA businesses, the uncertain economic future, and any possible shifts that could change the market. So, what is Nick's advice to current private label brands who are thinking about making a sale? Nick Tuzenko, the Founder and Managing Director of Accel Club, joins James Thomson on this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to explain why FBA private label brands should sell their businesses right now. Nick discusses how he evaluates brands looking to sell, the various ways his company helps brands with sourcing, and his predictions for the future of the FBA space. Stay tuned.

Stefan Haney is the CTO and Strategic Advisor for Foundry, a firm that specializes in buying and building incredible Amazon businesses. Before joining Foundry, Stefan was a 16-year veteran at Amazon, where he led several executive teams and contributed to the strategy and innovation behind the platform's product shopping pages, checkout, navigation, and more. With over two decades of experience in e-commerce, Stefan has a proven track record of launching new technology, delivering business results, and implementing mission-critical programs. In this episode… As more FBA private label brand owners exit their businesses, the demand for aggregators continues to rise. This, in turn, increases demand for more entrepreneurs looking to build and sell FBA businesses on Amazon — creating a rapidly growing Amazon flywheel.  However, with the increase in private label brands on Amazon, it's vital that aggregators effectively evaluate a business before purchase. For Stefan Haney, this means thoroughly analyzing their growth potential, conversions, and the general state of the Amazon marketplace. Stefan also considers how each new investment will fit into his growing portfolio. So, what is his advice to aggregators looking to build a successful acquisition strategy? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Stefan Haney, the CTO and Strategic Advisor for Foundry, to discuss his company's acquisition and portfolio management strategy. Together, they talk about how Stefan evaluates FBA brands before a purchase, what differentiates Foundry from other aggregators in the market, and the future of private label businesses on Amazon. Stay tuned.

Victor Elmann is the Vice President of Vendor Management at Circuit City, a consumer electronics retailer. In this role, Victor leads the team responsible for vendor relationship management, negotiations, product management, and customer experience. Prior to joining Circuit City, Victor was the Director of e-Commerce at Omnicom and the Director of SMB Merchandising at Gogotech. With years of experience in merchandising, buying, and e-commerce, he is an expert at digital strategy and marketing. In this episode… With the rapid growth of e-commerce, it's becoming more and more important for sellers to have a presence across multiple channels. To do this successfully, they must understand their customers' buying behaviors and build consistent customer relationships in every marketplace. However, for brand owners who are just starting out, it can be difficult to manage customer support across multiple e-commerce channels. That's why Victor Elmann and his team at Circuit City represent these sellers on Amazon and other marketplaces. By giving them the support of an established retailer, Victor and his team help sellers provide a better customer experience and successfully grow their businesses.  In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Victor Elmann, the Vice President of Vendor Management at Circuit City, to talk about the benefits of working with an established retailer to maximize your direct-to-consumer sales. Victor talks about optimizing your brand on and off of Amazon, how to build successful sourcing partnerships, and the importance of creating a consistent customer experience across multiple channels. Stay tuned.

Chris McCabe is the Founder and CEO of ecommerceChris, a firm that specializes in helping Amazon sellers reinstate their accounts and save their businesses. Chris and his team are all former Amazonians with long histories of helping people on the marketplace. At ecommerceChris, they teach sellers how to think like Amazon, protect their accounts, and appeal listing restrictions and suspensions. Prior to founding ecommerceChris, Chris was an Investigation Specialist at Amazon for several years. He has appeared on many podcasts and YouTube channels and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. In this episode… Due to fierce competition on the Amazon marketplace, some unscrupulous third-party sellers engage in bad practices to get their competitors suspended from the marketplace. Also known as brand abuse, these practices—such as black hat techniques, fake reviews, and listing abuse—can be detrimental to the success of your business. Because of this, it is critical that third-party sellers learn how to protect themselves from such attacks. According to Amazon consultant Chris McCabe, while sellers may be able to handle some brand abuse issues themselves, there may be cases when they need to bring the problem to Amazon, engage a lawyer, or reach out to a consultant. That's why he created his firm, ecommerceChris: to help Amazon sellers successfully protect and save their businesses. In this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Chris McCabe, the Founder and CEO of ecommerceChris, about his strategies for identifying and handling brand abuse on Amazon. They discuss the types of brand abuse you should be aware of, how to effectively resolve issues on your own, and Chris' tips for preventing future attacks. Stay tuned.

Yoni Mazor is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of GETIDA, a company that provides state-of-the-art reimbursement recovery solutions for FBA sellers. Utilizing GETIDA's unique auditing technology, Amazon sellers can have peace of mind that all their funds and inventories are properly accounted for and audited. In addition to this, Yoni is a former Amazon seller and a Board Member for The Ecom Cooperative, a powerful network of top e-commerce experts and service providers. In this episode… One of the most frustrating aspects of using FBA for your business is dealing with mistakes on the part of Amazon. There are a number of different mistakes that Amazon can make during fulfillment—including mishandled or lost inventory, incorrect shipping, or bad packaging. In these cases, third-party sellers can seek reimbursements from Amazon, but it's not always as easy as it sounds. Although Amazon's software is able to detect some mistakes and reimburse sellers automatically, a few tend to slip through the cracks. However, if sellers fail to reach out to Amazon about these discrepancies, they may end up losing their inventory and money. This is where GETIDA, a state-of-the-art reimbursement recovery solution, comes in. GETIDA helps Amazon sellers achieve maximum profitability by ensuring that all of their funds and inventory are properly accounted for. Yoni Mazor, the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of GETIDA, joins James Thomson on this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to share what third-party sellers need to know about FBA reimbursements. Yoni explains what inspired him to create his Amazon reimbursement solution, how his company differs from other players in the industry, and the common mistakes both sellers and Amazon make during fulfillment. Stay tuned.

Matt Snyder is the Senior Director of Amazon at Vari, a workspace innovation company and active office furniture manufacturer. Matt is also a consultant who specializes in helping Amazon sellers with Seller Fulfilled Prime setup, Amazon APIs, and omni-channel integrations. Prior to joining Vari, Matt was the e-Commerce Account Executive at Woot.com, where he managed multi-channel daily deal promotions. He is also currently the Co-founder and President of Lovepacs, a nonprofit that provides meals to students who would otherwise go hungry during school holidays. In this episode… Upon joining the Amazon marketplace, third-party sellers have the option to either fulfill their own orders or to use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). With FBA, your products are stored in an Amazon fulfillment center and shipped by the Amazon team. However, due to complications in 2020, FBA orders have experienced shipping delays, causing major problems for Amazon sellers. Because of this, it may be time to consider another option: the Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program. SFP was recently introduced into the Amazon marketplace, and it lets sellers fulfill their own orders to Prime customers. With this program, you have more control over your shipping logistics, meaning you don't have to wait for Amazon to replenish inventory. So, what do you need to know in order to get started with SFP in 2021? In this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Matt Snyder, the Senior Director of Amazon at Vari, to discuss the ins and outs of Amazon's Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program. Matt explains why his company joined the program and how it has benefited the business on and off of Amazon. He also talks about the new SFP requirements, how he evaluates 3PL partners, and his advice for finding the right fulfillment software for your company. Stay tuned.

Sanjay Chandiram is the CEO and Co-founder of Kaliber Global, a premier brand collective and one of the top 50 private label sellers on Amazon. He is also the CEO of ProMark, an e-commerce brand management firm. Sanjay holds an MBA in Operations, Finance, and Systems from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. His specialties include brand management, e-commerce strategy consulting, importing, and more. Chuck Gregorich is the Co-founder of Net Health Shops LLC and Net Pet Shops LLC, multi-channel home decor and pet product e-commerce companies that import from several countries and sell on over 20 marketplaces in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Before this, Chuck was the CEO of Lorman Education Services, a national leader of continuing education seminars in North America. He holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Jerry Kavesh is the CEO of Western Outlets and an Amazon seller of both branded and private label apparel and footwear. He is also the Founder and CEO of 3P Marketplace Solutions, a third-party marketplace retail company that helps apparel and footwear manufacturers achieve marketplace exposure and sales. Jerry has a BA in Finance & Marketing from the University of Washington's Michael G. Foster School of Business. In this episode… Over the last year, many e-commerce businesses in the US have experienced delays in products being shipped from Asia. This, in addition to an exponential increase in importation costs, has had a negative impact on their businesses, revenue, and brand reputation. So, what is causing these delays and high costs, and what can you do about it? According to Amazon experts Sanjay Chandiram, Chuck Gregorich, and Jerry Kavesh, the delays at the ports can be traced back to an increase in demand for products, a shortage of containers, and delayed customs clearance. As they say, the effects of these shipping issues have been felt not just by sellers but also by retail stores, buyers, and customers. Luckily, they have some tried-and-true strategies for working around these disruptions and making the most out of the current shipping situation. In this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Amazon experts Sanjay Chandiram, Chuck Gregorich, and Jerry Kavesh to talk about the shipping delays and high importation costs of products coming out of Asia. They discuss what has caused these disruptions, how they have affected business operations on Amazon, and the strategies sellers can take to ensure that their products get shipped on time. Stay tuned.

John Merris is the President and CEO of Solo Stove, a company that specializes in ultra-efficient wood-burning camp stoves, fire pits, and grills. John and his team at Solo Stove design simple, ingenious outdoor products to help customers create good moments that become lasting memories. Prior to Solo Stove, John worked at a number of product companies in senior financial, operational, and business development roles. He is an expert in sales, revenue acceleration, change management, and product development. In this episode… One of the reasons many e-commerce brand owners refuse to join Amazon is to avoid hurting their brand. However, according to John Merris, there are some tried-and-true strategies for selling on the marketplace that will protect your brand both on and off of Amazon. As John says, one of these methods is providing a great—and consistent—experience to both Amazon and non-Amazon customers. This means that important elements of your brand, such as pricing, messaging, and unboxing, should remain the same on every channel. By putting the customer experience first every time, you can successfully boost the credibility, revenue, and reach of your brand. In this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, John Merris, the President and CEO of Solo Stove, joins James Thomson to talk about the strategies brands can use to protect themselves when selling both on and off of Amazon. John explains how his brand positions itself on the Amazon marketplace, what he does to ensure consistent messaging across different channels, and his future plans for Solo Stove. Stay tuned.

Lesley Hensell is the Co-founder, Co-owner, and Partner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm's client services team. Riverbend Consulting helps Amazon sellers with account and ASIN reinstatements and provides detailed consulting services for operations and fulfillment.  In her role at Riverbend Consulting, Lesley has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. She also leverages two decades of experience as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. In addition to this, Lesley has run an Amazon 3P seller business for more than a decade. In this episode… As an Amazon seller, one of the worst things that can happen to your business is your account being suspended due to product complaints or misconduct. A blocked or suspended account or listing will cause you to lose income, profit, and essential growth for your brand. So, in such cases, what can you do to get your account reinstated? According to Lesley Hensell, Partner at Riverbend Consulting, there are three key areas that Amazon expects you to address when writing a plan of action to reinstate your account. These include determining the root cause of the issue, solving the problem, and preventing it from ever happening again. While some types of account problems can be handled by sellers themselves, others may require assistance from third-party companies, such as Riverbend Consulting. Lesley Hensell, the Co-founder, Co-owner, and Partner of Riverbend Consulting, joins James Thomson on this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to share her best practices for reinstating accounts and ASINs on Amazon. Lesley talks about some of the common causes of account suspensions, how to write an effective plan of action, and her recommendations for preventing future issues with seller performance. Stay tuned.

Jim Mann is a serial entrepreneur, brand creator, Amazon FBA expert, and creative digital marketer. Currently, he is the Director of Acquisitions at Thrasio, the largest acquirer of Amazon businesses and one of the top 25 sellers on Amazon. Before Thrasio, Jim was an FBA seller for six years, managing and running all aspects of a travel brand on Amazon across the US and Europe. He specializes in e-commerce, private equity, online retail, third-party sellers, and more. In this episode… As the Amazon marketplace continues to grow, more and more entrepreneurs are joining the platform to start new businesses. While many of them can build very profitable businesses in a short period of time, these businesses may not have much brand recognition. So, when exactly does a business become a brand on the Amazon marketplace—and how does this impact its ability to sell? According to Jim Mann, the Director of Acquisitions at Thrasio, an Amazon brand is a business that sells its product at a certain price, converts well, and receives good reviews from its customers. As he says, a good brand is extremely attractive to investors because it has a proven track record and a promising future trajectory. With this in mind, what is Jim's advice to entrepreneurs looking to build and sell a successful Amazon brand? Jim Mann, the Director of Acquisitions at Thrasio, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to talk about his firm's process for investing in FBA private label brands. Jim explains the criteria he looks for in an Amazon brand, what differentiates a good FBA investor from a bad one, and how Thrasio stands out from other aggregators in the market. Stay tuned.

Sebastian Rymarz is the Co-founder and CEO of Heyday. Heyday partners with sellers to acquire, launch, and incubate successful brands on digital marketplaces like Amazon. Its mission is to help e-commerce entrepreneurs reach new heights by providing the capital, tools, and insights to accelerate their brands in the marketplace ecosystem.  Prior to starting Heyday, Sebastian worked as the Chief Business Officer for Fundbox, a financial services platform that specializes in providing revolving lines of credit to entrepreneurs. In this episode… With the current growth of the FBA space and the increased number of private label brand owners looking to sell and exit, it can be difficult for a buyer to evaluate which businesses to acquire. So, how do you determine the current and future value of a brand? Which criteria are most important? And, how do you choose one brand over another?  According to Sebastian Rymarz, the best approach is to leverage the power of data science to assess a business' value and future potential. At his firm, Sebastian utilizes data to evaluate two essential pieces of criteria: defensibility and opportunity. With this data-driven approach, he can effectively decide which business to acquire based on the quality of its products, their differentiation in the marketplace, and more.  In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Sebastian Rymarz, the Co-founder and CEO of Heyday, about how his firm leverages data from Amazon to evaluate and acquire FBA private label brands. Sebastian talks about how he finds businesses for sale, the criteria he looks for in a brand, and Heyday's equity offer to sellers. Stay tuned.

Chris Shipferling is a Managing Partner at Global Wired Advisors, a digital investment bank focused on optimizing the business sale process. Prior to joining Global Wired Advisors, Chris spent 15 years in senior roles in sales, leadership, and digital marketing at various large consumer brands. Jason Somerville is also a Managing Partner at Global Wired Advisors. He has almost 20 years of experience in investment banking and has executed capital market trades for Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies. Jason uses these skills to buy and sell both traditional and digitally native businesses. In this episode… Selling a business is not just about gathering papers and going to the market. If you want to achieve a successful and efficient exit, you'll need to take a strategic approach to prepare your business and attract investors at the right time. The team at Global Wired Advisors understand that private label founders have many different reasons and long-term goals for selling their businesses. That's why they work closely with brand owners to create a strategic process that works for them. By helping with market forecasting and product roadmaps, they ensure that you sell your business at the best possible time—so you can achieve maximum results. In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Chris Shipferling and Jason Somerville, Managing Partners at Global Wired Advisors, about how they help brand owners determine the best time to sell their businesses. Together, they discuss the importance of business forecasting, how to prepare your brand for the market, and when you should start engaging investors. Stay tuned.

Mark Daoust is the Founder, President, and CEO of Quiet Light, a brokerage and business advisory firm that helps online entrepreneurs achieve amazing exits. Since starting Quiet Light in 2007, Mark and his team of experienced advisors have worked with hundreds of brands that sell on Amazon. Before Quiet Light, Mark founded the online publication Site-Reference.com and grew its subscriber base to 220,000 members. Currently, he is a well-known presenter and guest author, as well as the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast. In this episode… According to Mark Daoust, there are a number of factors that have fueled the increased interest in private label businesses on Amazon—from press coverage of companies like 101 Commerce and Thrasio, to the current COVID-19 pandemic. While brokerages such as Mark's company, Quiet Light, have been helping FBA brand owners sell their businesses for some time, these recent events have skyrocketed them into the limelight. So, what should private label sellers expect when working with a brokerage to sell their businesses? For starters, the broker will want to know the ins and outs of the business, including the defensibility of its revenue, the type of market it's in, and how prepared it is for a transition. As Mark says, he looks for details about each unique seller and brand in order to determine when it will be most valuable for them to sell their business. Mark Daoust, the Founder, President, and CEO of Quiet Light, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to explain what private label brand owners can expect from working with a brokerage to sell their businesses. Mark talks about the advantages of working with a broker versus selling directly to an aggregator, why some sellers decide to postpone selling their brands, and what differentiates his brokerage from other players in the market. Stay tuned.

Andrew Savage is the Founder and CEO of Suma Brands, a next-generation commerce platform that develops marketplace brands into household names. Suma's purpose is to find, acquire, and help brands realize their potential, both in the Amazon jungle and beyond. Andrew has 15 years of experience building successful retail businesses and developing web technology products. Prior to founding Suma Brands, he held advisory roles in retail companies and worked in management roles at Amazon and Target.com. In this episode… Over the last couple of years, Amazon has been working to improve its marketplace to be more convenient for both sellers and buyers. This has led to an increase in the number of sellers joining the channel—which, in turn, has made it a more attractive space for investors. So, how can both FBA brands and buyers stand out from the growing competition on the Amazon marketplace? When preparing to sell, most private label Amazon brands work on their financial records, customer reviews, and business operations to make their businesses more attractive to investors. However, according to Andrew Savage, these brands should actually spend more time focusing on their products in order to stand out. As he says, a brand's long-term value and growth potential are often rooted in the products it sells—not just its presence on Amazon. Andrew Savage, the Founder and CEO of Suma Brands, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to talk about why FBA private label sellers should focus more on their products when looking to exit. Andrew discusses what he looks for when evaluating a business for sale, the importance of creating a product roadmap, and how Suma Brands approaches deal structure. Stay tuned.

If you want an inside look at Amazon you'd be hard pressed to find a better person to talk to than James Thomson co-founder of Buy Box Experts and the wildly popular Prosper Show.     In this episode we get into the details of what sellers on Amazon should be thinking and doing right now on a variety of important topics including:   Sales Tax! This can be some scary stuff.  We talk about the Wayfair Supreme Court decision, the recent ruling in California and what it all means to you.  Not the sexiest of topics, but one that could kill your business if you're not taking action now. Brand equity.  There's never been a better time to build a brand on Amazon.  We'll talk about what it means to build and try to hold on to brand equity on Amazon.   1p vs. 3p vs. Hybrid - what's best and why. Most common mistakes sellers are making right now and how to avoid them How Amazon approaches their private label game and when are they coming for your category. Prosper Show 2019 details Plus more!

Change is scary, and yes price trends do matter in the online marketplace, particularly if you are in the market for buying or selling a business. Today we're discussing the frightening possibility of tighter margins, particularly for Amazon businesses, as a result of the most recent US government tariffs on Chinese products. Here at Quiet Light, we get a lot of questions from buyers regarding what we can expect from the Amazon marketplace now and in the future. The reality is that entrepreneurs need to learn to see these changes as par for the course as well as opportunities for growth. The internet today is so much different than it was 11 years ago when we started Quiet Light Brokerage. In fact, we started the same year the first Iphone came out – to give some perspective on just how much things can change! When it comes to the geopolitical nature of e-commerce, specifically as it relates to the US, who better to bring in than a Canadian? Today's guest, James Thomson, is a Partner for BuyBox Experts, a managed services agency specializing in marketplace management for brands, manufacturers, and resellers. He was formerly head of Amazon Services, the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting tens of thousands of sellers annually to the Amazon marketplace. He's crazy knowledgeable about everything Amazon. We're talking all about the tariffs and their potential impact on the e-commerce marketplace. Episode Highlights: What tariffs are coming out and what tariff trends are going to affect business? Impact on first party sellers. Ways to work with and around these tariffs. How the manufacturers in China will see that they can suffer too. The length and scope of the tariffs' impact will have a lasting effect over time. Parallel imports may happen eventually, creating retail arbitrage. The foreseen impact for third party sellers. How the tariffs are creating more incentive for Chinese manufacturers to become sellers and sell products directly to customers in the United States. We discuss the consequences for Amazon sellers holding inventory. How Amazon monitors expected sell through rates to deflect inventory increases. Things sellers should keep in mind in order to keep their buy box percentages up. Indicators that there may be opportunities for competitors like Target to swoop in in certain spaces as early as the end of this quarter. If the tariffs prevail, one year from now will be the time when the retail increases will show. What countries might be viable alternatives to China as suppliers and when to start investigating those avenues. The people who end up capitalizing and doing well in situations like these are the ones that look at these problems as opportunities. Transcription: Joe: So Mark I just launched a listing a couple of weeks ago. It's under contract already, multiple offers, it went very quickly. Actually, it's a re-launch because when we launched last year it didn't sell because of flat trends on the top side, slightly down on the bottom side and we pulled it. And the owner of the business implemented all the growth opportunities that he wrote about and now business is up 27% so it went under contract very quickly. So for those people that are listening that don't think that trends matter they definitely do because eight months ago no one wanted to buy this. Eight months later it's under contract in what was literally like four days. And I can't say the price of course but the thing that I wanted to touch about in regards to that is that he's importing products from China and the potential tariffs have changed since we last listed the business. And so we addressed that in the client interview. We're trying to stay current with it and he has a person through his manufacturer that helped him with the proper coding of the brands. And there was a slight increase in terms of the landed cost of goods sold but it was so minute it really had no impact on the discretionary earnings or profit. And I think that this is a topic that we need to address more and focus on in our client interviews and make sure that the sort of scary possibility of tighter margins is really looked into because not everything is going to have an increase and those that do it may be so small that is a very tiny percentage of that landed cost of goods sold. Now you just had an expert on to talk about it, our old friend James Thomson, right? Mark: Yeah absolutely when it comes to US issues and the geo political nature of e-commerce specifically as [inaudible 00:02:27.4] the US who better bring in than a Canadian? So, James Thomson, he is the first account manager within Amazon's marketplace. He's the co-founder of Prosper Show. He's a principal owner over at Buy Box Experts. The guy … I mean he's crazy knowledgeable about everything Amazon. And so we've been getting a lot of questions from buyers both on deals that are under offer right now and also from people just kind of trying to understand the landscape, what are we looking at here with Amazon in the future. So I thought let's go ahead and bring somebody on. Let's talk about it. Let's kind of dissect this. And he said a couple of things which are really really important about this and I'm not going to give all of it away because I need to tease of course so that people can actually listen to the entire interview but a couple of things. One, the nature of business is always changing. I mean the Internet today is way different than what it was when we started Quiet Light Brokerage. I'm actually just … I'm putting together a presentation right now for Ungagged coming up here soon early November and I'm taking a look back to when I started Quiet Light Brokerage. We started Quiet Light Brokerage the same year that the iPhone first came out so … I mean that's how much things have changed in just 11 years. Joe: Wow. Mark: I know right. So I say that this Quiet Light Brokerage was the biggest event of 2007 followed shortly after by the iPhone of course. Anyway let's get into the point here, James and I talk a lot about why are the tariffs in place, what is going on with these tariffs, what is the future of it look like, how is it going to impact e-commerce business owners, what's the hope of the US government with these tariffs. And I'll cut to the chase there the hope is that people start buying from other countries and most importantly what should you be doing about it. And on one thing that I'm just going to say here, I reiterate this at the end of this discussion with James. These sort of changes need to be looked at as opportunities among people who own businesses, among entrepreneurs. I've been an entrepreneur for 20 plus years now and the nature of the internet is constantly changing. Those who are looking at these changes and saying there is opportunity here, I have a great opportunity here to be able to adjust to the changes, find a new problem and solve that problem they do really really well. They're the ones that are absolutely killing it. Those who take a look at stuff like this and get all scared they end up leaving and not continuing onto the world of the Internet, their entrepreneurial career. So this is an interesting topic, very relevant to our time right now. Definitely, take a listen to it and then James also offered an email address if you have any questions for him to be able to speak about it. He's got a couple of really practical solutions that you can implement right away to be able to absorb some of these costs both in working with the factories and manufacturers in China but also just some very simple things that you can do on your side with your product launches and your products coming out to be able to pass this cost on. I'll say one more thing and I know I've talked a ton here; I'm kind of all around the place here. And I think it's really important to understand that everybody is facing these problems. When your costs go up 10% it's not just you, it's all of your competitors are seeing the exact same things. So it's a matter of how do you absorb those costs, how do you plan to be able to compete with that, how do you address your Amazon account so that you're not getting … losing your buy box share so on and so forth. Pretty simple stuff but you do need to have a plan. Joe: Yeah and I think you and I have been around long enough that we know it's not the end of the world, it's just another hurdle that an entrepreneur needs to get over. Get over the hurdle. And knowledge is power. If you learn about it, focus on it, and if and when you decide to sell your business you'll have that knowledge and you'll be able to address and tell people how you addressed it. And for buyers, same thing learn about it. Not every category is going to have an increase in tariffs and increase in cost of goods sold. So James is very bright, one of the smartest guys in most of the rooms he's in so I am looking forward to listening to this myself. Mark: James welcome back to the Quiet Light Podcast. James: Thanks for having me, Mark. Mark: All right so let's start off with just a quick introduction as to who you are. You have been on the podcast once before. I'm going to let you introduce yourself as far as your background … especially your background with Amazon and Prosper Show and Buy Box Experts. James: Right. Well, I'm James Thomson. People may know me as one of the co-founders of Prosper Show which is an educational event for large sophisticated third party sellers on Amazon. I am also the partner for Buy Box Experts which is an advisory and account management company at sports brands on Amazon. And I spent almost six years at Amazon doing a number of third party related responsibilities including running Amazon services and being Amazon's first FBA account manager many many many years ago. So thanks for having me back on again. I'm looking forward to talking about the ever increasing challenges of being a successful seller on Amazon. Mark: Well, I'm going to admit this is a show that I have been sort of dreading to do. James: Yeah. Mark: But it's really necessary and I know we've been starting to see more and more questions on the whole issue of tariffs. Before we jump into it real quick I am just going to give a shout out to Prosper Show. We go to a lot of shows at Quiet Light, Prosper show is awesome. If you're selling on Amazon and you're looking for a show where you can actually learn things and make good connections check it out, Prosper Show, what we're going to be there next March probably with all the booth and all that so. James: Thanks Mark, thanks. Mark: The thing is I'll make it for you because it's worth making. And also I don't want to talk about tariffs but let's talk about tariffs. And as everybody knows we've had one round of tariffs slapped on a lot of products coming from China, 10%. There is a threat of more tariffs coming out in January. And I'm going to fess up publicly to everybody to say I've really been kind of putting my fingers in my ears and saying I don't want to know about this, please make it go away. Let's get everybody up to speed on this as far as the tariffs that are coming out and what the general political landscape is that we need to be aware of in moving forward. James: So just to be clear I'm Canadian. I don't vote in the United States. I don't get to decide who does or doesn't make decisions around the tariffs that are going to be charged. But for folks that haven't been paying attention Mr. Trump is dealing … or has decided to enter into a tariff war with the Chinese around basically what dozens and now hundreds of products that are manufactured in China will be slapped with rather significant tariffs when they're imported into the United States. As many the people listening in today will know these private label sellers gosh we have a lot of stuff made in China that ends up being consumed and sold here in the US. So I work a lot with private label sellers who are saying gosh I thought I had the opportunity to make some decent margin being a private label seller but now that my products that are coming in from China with this extra 10%, 15%, and possibly 25% tariff depending on what specific type of product you happen to make, gosh that's an awful lot of money and I can't really absorb that long term without it destroying my financial situation. So what do I do? I think to tackle this problem we should split it into two parts. There are going to be those companies that wholesale products to Amazon. We'll call that the vendor central relationship and then there's all of the companies that are using seller central to sell those products themselves; two very different situations. Let's start with the … either one is really very easy but let's start with the vendor central situation. If you are a brand and you are bringing products in from China and you're turning around your wholesaling to Amazon … not surprisingly Amazon doesn't buy price increases and they don't really care about your profitability. That's your problem and so if you're now faced with an extra 10 to 25% COGS … 10 to 25% of higher COGS, absorbing that amount unless you're making insane margins most of us can't absorb that kind of money. And so the question then becomes A. can you get your manufacturer receipts absorbed? Some of that in cost reductions and we've definitely seen some situations where some of the overseas manufacturers are willing to make certain price concessions, especially if the North American sellers are buying the inventory in time to be able to avoid some of that initial tariff. So if you're prepared to load up on some of your inventories, if you load up on your inventory now then next year are the first lot of x-tiles and units your Chinese manufacturer may absorb some of that extra cost. Because the reality is the Chinese manufacturers they're also going to suffer through this. It's not just the American brands, it's Chinese manufacturers that also recognize that there isn't going to be as much demand unless they absorb some of this cost. Mark: Yeah and let me just make a point here real quick. I mean the goal of this and the Trump administration has been pretty clear, the goal of this is to get China to change some of their policies towards the US. And so they're literally trying to disincentivize business owners importing from China you know a lot of these 1P and 3P as you put it, the vendor central and the other people selling through Amazon to buy from other countries. And so they're going to make … through these tariffs they're just making business more expensive for everybody. And ideally, there is going to be this internal pressure from the Chinese manufacturers on their government to be able to change some of the policies of the US. That's kind of big picture. James: The problem is … and I speak anecdotal experience, I live close to the harbor in Seattle and I see all the used tanker ships come in and more than half of them come in from China. So if I think of all this product that comes in that we consume here in the United States is being manufactured overseas if more than half of that's being created in China the reality is our overall cost of buying stuff, whatever it is … plastic stuff, apparel, whatever … it's coming from China. And so unless some of these other countries can very very quickly not only ramp up production but more importantly identify themselves to companies here in the United States that otherwise buy from China, unless they can do that and find a way to say hey come and make your products over here instead of in China, the reality is this is going to take a while and some of this pain around higher costs is going to affect both the manufacturers in China, companies here in the United States, and of course consumers in the United States if in fact some of those costs overruns or pass through as higher resale prices. Mark: Right and just to be clear I'm not a geopolitical expert by any means but China has been pouring money in subsidizing their manufacturers for a really long time to be able to ramp up production levels that can provide basically manufacturing services to the entire world. That's why their economy has really been juiced up to where it is today. So for people to look elsewhere to other countries it's going to be darn near impossible for somebody to find prices that can be matched in other countries that may be seeing this as an opportunity. And even if a country does pop up for a particular industry it's going to take years for the capacity to be able to grow up to the level where we really need it to grow up to. James: Yes. Mark: So this is a problem. Let me ask you a question on this real quick and I want to get into specifically how Amazon is treating this as well. You started to get into it. I think it's going to be an interesting conversation but isn't this going to affect everybody the same way? And at the end of the day I mean it's the consumers that you would think are going to be left on in vague. If there's a 10% tariff on Blue Widgets, all the Blue Widget sellers have to pay that 10% tariff. James: Yes. Mark: So eventually their cost is up so they're going to have to raise the prices as well. Is this really going to impact the businesses themselves in that way since they could in theory pass that cost on? James: So there are a couple of things here, and different people go to market on Amazon with very different distribution approaches. So if you are buying product overseas, bringing it in into the United States and turning around and trying to wholesale it to Amazon through a vendor central account, Amazon has made it clear they do not accept price increases. This is your problem Mr. Brand; you need to figure out how to absorb this. So what I see happening is some brands will say gosh this is inconvenient right before Q4 our biggest time of the year. Some of these brands will say you know what, as much as we hate to do this we will suck it up and we will absorb this cost. And so many of these manufacturers will end up with much much smaller margins while Amazon continues to have the product at the same price that it had and some consumers won't see a price increase on those items. Unfortunately … and that's fine short term but long term these manufacturers are going to say unless I can find cheaper sources of manufacturing elsewhere I'm no longer going to carry these products or I'm no longer going to sell them to Amazon 1P or I'm actually no longer going to sell them anywhere on Amazon; that's one option. There is another type of distribution model that's very common on Amazon which is the product diverter, and I'm not passing judgment on the product diverter, the reality is there's a lot of product diverters on Amazon; companies that gray market source products. And so the opportunity for companies to go and proactively can parallel import and bring in products from let's say Europe that came in from China nut they're now coming in from Europe … I see an, potentially in some categories there will be a significant increase in parallel imports because somebody can buy that product in another country and to the extent, they're not necessarily answering all the questions correctly about where these products are manufactured there will be more opportunity and more incentive for companies to do parallel imports. Again so as to be able to bring products in at a cheaper price than what they would otherwise be paying if they bought directly from China. Mark: Is that illegal or do you literally have to be lying on your forms in order to be doing this parallel importing? James: Oh please deter, I'm not suggesting that anybody does this. I'm just saying I fully anticipate this is going to happen. Mark: Sure. James: And so if the other thing is if the tax … if you can ensure the tax has already been paid at least once there may be opportunity for you to capitalize on nonetheless being able to re-import it back in and be able to source it. Brands don't like product diversion and so knowing in there will be an issue there for brands long term having their products … basically, people capitalizing on retail arbitrage across borders and getting cheaper prices in one place so as to capitalize on that. What is more likely is if there is a price discrepancy in another country and you can buy the same item in Europe for 10% less than you can here in the US, some folks may decide to … depending on the math, it may decide to start buying stuff indirectly just because they can capitalize on price discrepancies in order to make things work. The logistics are more complicated but in the end, they still need to make some money and they're prepared to take on these extra logistic steps just so they can make some money. All of this is short term because in the long run if a brand wants to continue to wholesale on Amazon they have to make money. That's what … it's why we're all here. And so what I anticipate happening is some brands are going to stop supplying certain products and they're either going to go and find production in other countries or they're going to find completely different products that don't involve China at all. And so that will mean that some products that we as consumers rely on … and I think for example all the Q4 toys that get sold in this country, the vast majority of them are made overseas and a huge proportion of those are made in China. And so it will be interesting to see specifically in the toy category what happens because with Toys R Us going out of business this year, there's been a lot of discussions that some of the other brick and mortar retailers are going to be very aggressively going after Amazon. If Amazon for some reason in most of the toys that Amazon gets come from 1P, if those manufacturers for some reason say you know what we can't make any money selling you these products we're not going to sell it to you because you're not prepared to take a price increase, we may have a situation where Amazon actually runs out of stock on an awful lot of top selling toys. Which is bad, bad, bad for Amazon. So I think the toy category of all categories is the one that may push Amazon short term to accept the fact that it is going to have to absorb some higher costs in order to have inventory on absolutely critical selection in Q4. Mark: Interesting, so let's move over to the 3P and I have also some questions maybe about competition to Amazon which hopefully we can get to but let's move over to the 3P. What's the impact that you see and I know we're all crystal ball in here but what's the impact that you see for 3P sellers? And 3P for anyone that doesn't know this would be FBA merchant fulfilled, anybody that is not selling vendor central but still selling through [inaudible 00:18:43.2]. James: I'm going to separate 3P into two groups there's the resellers and there are the private label sellers. If I'm a private label seller and buying stuff from China I make the decisions myself on what pricing should look like. So if I have to raise my prices 10% to maintain my margins I can choose to absorb some of that for competitive purposes. But I always have the flexibility of saying I'm going to raise my prices. An important … a very tactical issue, let's say that you're selling your product for $25 today on Amazon and you added list price information into the Amazon catalog, you can't just raise your price from $25 to $30 to cover your extra price. You need to also increase your list price because otherwise, Amazon's going to flag you in selling products significantly above the list price and also press your Buy Box. So you've got to make both of those adjustments at once. As it relates to resellers the question becomes if you're buying from a distributor or a brand here in the United States that you're then turning around and reselling who's splitting the cost increases there? And that's going to differ widely on brand by brand. Some brands may already have a lot of inventory here in the US and they say well we're just going to ride this out and hope this tariffs disappear sometime in Q1 or Q2 in which case they're willing to … you know if they're using some kind of a lifo … I'm sorry a phyto model of inventory there may not be any price increases at all for wholesale pricing. And so the retailer can turn around and continue to sell the product at the same price. The problem is all you need is one competitor in the same space on Amazon the whole price is tight and not move prices up and if they've got lower prices and they're still doing the right thing with organic search and driving traffic they may end up with a higher proportion of total traffic on their products. Granted it's very low margined traffic but it is nonetheless higher traffic. And so the question is how long is any particular reseller prepared to take lower margins for the benefit of higher traffic which isn't necessarily high quality business. Mark: I mean in defense here we see this happen anyways where we have people come in and try to break into a market and will purposely go low margin just to be able to break into that market. But this is kind of who could hold off the longest with the higher prices. James: So there's been a very important development this week with Mr. Trump getting out of the postal shipping rate agreement with China. There was a significant subsidy that the United States was paying for overseas companies to ship products one order at a time into the United States. A lot of these individual orders today don't clear customs with any customs payments. And so if you got a 25% tax for example on those products, if they're brought in bulk but there's no tax on the individual orders, you don't also want to create a situation where there's that much more incentive for example for Chinese sellers to send products one at a time in the United States by removing some of these price subsidies on the shipping costs that will help to balance things a little bit. But you still have a situation where a Chinese seller can send an individual order into the United States and realistically most of those orders are going to get through without customs being applied on those on off envelopes and boxes. So in many ways, the tariff only creates more incentive for Chinese manufacturers to become sellers and to sell products one at a time in the United States. And so that continues to be a challenge. Mark: Let me ask you about a tactic that I've seen sellers employ here in trying to get ahead of potentially … I know there's threats of an additional tariff being imposed here coming January so possibly increasing the tariffs even more. And I've seen some sellers bulking up on inventory because of that; trying to get ahead of that. It has kind of a cascading effect though from what I understand if you're a 3P and especially using Amazon's fulfillment services. Does Amazon look closely at the amount of inventory that you're keeping with them and are there consequences for maybe having inventory sit on their shelves longer? James: No it was early this year Amazon evolved the way that they designed how much FBA capacity every seller has. And it has to do with the sell through rate of each individual skew that they choose to put into FBA. If you're selling a product that sells a thousand units a day, Amazon will let you put as much of that in as you want. If you're selling a product that sells one unit a month you can't load up five years of inventory. Amazon actually won't let you put that in the FBA all at once. And so as much as a seller wants to ramp up their level of interest they hold in FBA, Amazon will cap it based on their expected sell through rates. So if you happen to sell products that sell fast enough you're not going to be putting more than six months of product into FBA, great you may load up a little bit more. But if you start bringing in pallets and pallets more than you'll ever sell in the next six months, Amazon's going to put the kybosh on that. And you're going to have to figure out where to hold that inventory. So I think it's a system that basically corrects itself. I think it's worth a seller today if they're planning on doing this in the next four to five weeks they should create an FBA shipment right now to see if Amazon even allows them to put whatever level of incremental inventory into FBA. They may well say sorry we don't have that space because your expected sell through rate doesn't by any means justify the load of inventory. Mark: And I know a lot of sellers are using even a 3PL of sorts just to store Amazon inventory that they are eventually going to ship off to Amazon and that's … if you're not doing that and you store inventory for anywhere longer than a few months I think because of the storage rates you can get much better storage rates elsewhere but that's something to look at. James: So to that point if you do have to bring in an awful lot more inventory and hold the inventory so as to bypass the expected additional duties that come likely in January, one thing we may see is an increase in the number of sellers that decide to start using seller for full prime. And that's a mixed bag in terms of whether it's a good thing for sellers, in some situations they may be able to use the higher shipping costs that come with seller for full prime that may be adequately smaller to offset the expected cost of having to pay another 15% in a tax on imports. But you know we may see some … in certain categories we may see more sellers deciding to use seller for full prime in part because Amazon says you can't send that much stuff into FBA but you know we'll have to have to see what happens. My view is I don't see this tax staying in place indefinitely. I see this is a game of chicken between two countries. And quite frankly I think the United States has more to lose than the Chinese do because the Chinese low cost production capabilities in China will continue to be there even if those costs are a little bit higher now that there's tax added to it. And so reality is we Americans, we like cheap stuff and so if you go to the source of cheap stuff … and so I suspect at some point that there will be some counterbalancing that happens and it's a matter of how long can people hold on without going out of business. Mark: Yeah. Let's talk about the Buy Box a little bit. You touched on this earlier about things that you may want to watch out for if … when your changing prices on your site. What are some things people should keep in mind if they do decide to pass on some of those costs to the eventual customers at the end of the day? What are the things that they should watch out for so they don't lose their Buy Box percentages? James: Well the first one is you still … when you offer your product you want to make sure that it's at or below the list price. So if you're having to increase your price over whatever the current list price is today then you want to make sure that you can update the list price information. If you are a reseller of someone else's products and they haven't updated the list price then you're going to be in trouble because you can't sell that $30 item for $35 when the list price is 30. And if the manufacturer controls the list price or you as the reseller don't have brand registry ability to go in and update the list price you're going to be in a situation where you don't have the buy box because you've had to sell the product in a price above the list price. So start that conversation now if you don't have the ability to change the list price on a product you resell have that conversation now because you need to get that information updated. Otherwise, the brand is going to lose out to any other brand that has the ability to update their list prices. So even if the brand you're reselling doesn't want to do this you need to explain to them listen if you don't do this everybody that sells your product is going to be in a situation where they can't win the buy box which means the consideration of your brand or other brands is going to be significantly hampered. Mark: That's good advice. Let's move on to Amazon and their adjustments that they might be making on their side and also possible competitors. And I'm thinking Wal-Mart here who has been pretty aggressive in trying to eat in Amazon's market share. I don't know how successful they've been with their two day shipping on anything, no membership fees everything else. You've already described how Amazon is right now at least probably pretty unforgiving as far as price increases on them [inaudible 00:27:44.9] side. James: Yeah. Mark: Do you see any opportunity here for some of these competitors and even if it's not one competitor maybe that fragmentation of Home Depot taking care of their pit space and actually increasing their presence target doing the same, Wal-Mart doing the same, and have you seen any indication of this yet? James: Well what I have seen … I go back to the toy example, what I've seen is that both Target and Walmart are aggressively looking for ways that they can win in the toy space this Q4. And it only takes one or two of the big toy companies to tell Amazon 1P that they're not prepared to send any shipments unless there is some modification to the pricing. Unless that happens … oh, I'm sorry if that does happen then I think it could be a very painful Q4 for Amazon in a category that they actually absolutely need to win. But the problem with Amazon is they usually win anyways. The reality is if they can't get it directly from the distributor or the manufacturer they find a secondary source. They go and find a distributor that will unload a product at low margin, Or they will do parallel imports. So I think if these duties remain in to place for 12 months it's going to be next November or December that the pain is really felt by brands. Because right now a lot of them already have inventory, they already brought in to the United States. While they may have paid 10% extra duty it's not 25% duty but at the time you have long term 25% duty that absolutely is going to impact what their retail prices look like. So as bad as it may be coming out of this December if that tax remains in place for another 12 months that's when companies are going to have to say okay we're going to have to discontinue certain skews. We're going to have to launch new versions of the existing skews under different UPCs so that we can have new list prices on these items. I've seen situations already with some companies where they're already loading the 2019 version of an item with very slightly modified packaging but that's the product that's going to replenish the 2018 version that they're very soon going to run out of and have no plans on ever replenishing as long as the tax is in place; i.e 2019 version cost 25% more retail because everybody has to continue to make money doing this. Mark: Okay one of the things that we've been trying to educate people on especially in this e-commerce space there's a lot of people out there that want to find a couple of evergreen products that are just constantly bringing in cash. And then there's always the question of well how do you handle competition? When we brought it up time and time again now on this podcast where look good product based companies come out with new products on a regular basis and so that's actually … it's something I haven't heard before. That's a great way to be able to address this is come up with a 2019 version or a slightly different model version which your cost can absorb that new price and be able to work it out to the price that self. Last thing I want to talk about, let's assume that this does last for a while, you know a year or more. The intended effect is for US importers and retailers to move and look for other countries. So what are some of the countries maybe that people can start looking into. And I know it's going to vary industry by industry but what countries might be viable alternatives to China if people want to start looking at and look for manufacturers in different places that could possibly replace their current supply? James: I don't know how much I knew I can add to this. I mean a lot of the companies I know they look in Thailand and Vietnam today. Some of them look in Laos. I know the Southeast Asian countries, a lot of them have low cost production but they're not necessarily known for the sophistication of bringing together manufacturers the way, for example, Canton Fair does. And so I see an opportunity here for … let's say I'm the business development government organization in Thailand or Vietnam to the extent of they can put together a major event that will attract thousands of manufacturers and thousands of overseas buyers, I mean I see that as being rather significant. If you can spin up a Canton Fair like event or even a very small verison of that in one of these other Southeast Asian countries. Part of the challenge here is visibility. There already is an Alibaba that helps people find every Chinese manufacturer. Is there a similar concept in Vietnam and Thailand? To this point, it's nowhere near as visible and so it becomes something that basically has to be centrally organized either by large associations of manufacturers in country or potentially the government. And so if one of those countries is able to step up and do something like this and create visibility that will help. But let's be honest even if I said to you your product can be made in another country basically the same way starting today you're still looking at six months of testing and small minimum order quantities to verify and make sure that you have got the right payment structures in place. And so I would challenge everybody who's listening today if we're looking at a 12 month or a long term situation with this tax being in place you've got to start these conversations in January figuring out where is my alternative source going to come from. Because it's going to take time to work through and figure out am I really getting the same quality? Am I really getting the same delivery promises and so on from my overseas manufacturers that are now coming out of a different country? Mark: Yeah. So I've been an entrepreneur now for going on 20 years and the way … I would just like to close out here because some people might be hearing this and saying oh my gosh this is so incredibly scary. And what I want to say is this, these things happen. These things happen in business. The conditions change all the time and the people who end up capitalizing and doing really well are the ones who look at these problems as the opportunities that they are and figure out the way to make it work. There will be people who drop out. There will be people who do not pay enough attention to this and don't make the right moves. And so when we see these things rather than getting all scared and actually ironically enough this episode is probably going to air right around Halloween. I think we're going to publish it the day before Halloween and do our email newsletter advisory the day after … so you know a good timing for that. But to understand that there is definitely opportunity here. I think there's a couple of really good tactics. I think James you brought up just one simple one was just bringing up a new version of products that have and make them a 2019 version. That's a really simple type that we can have to see what's going to happen. And then also just have your ear to the ground as to where you can also find other products. So this has been really really enlightening. James, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people reach you if they have questions about this or honestly your work for consulting with Amazon sellers is unparalleled so if they have other questions even unrelated to this where can they reach you? James: I can be reached at info@buyboxexperts.com. All those emails go directly to me. And I appreciate your time today Mark. Mark: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on. Again James is one of the best in the business by far. Prosper Show check it out and then if you have questions feel free to reach out to me and I can do an intro or [inaudible 00:34:40.8] James. Thanks again for coming on. James: Thank you, Mark. Links and Resources: Email James BuyBox Website Prospershow James's LinkedIn James's Book on Amazon

Whether you are buying or building an Amazon business, you want it to be sustainable. There can be a lot of mystery around buying or building an Amazon business and what worked in the past may not work today. To explain the difference between a sustainable Amazon business and an Amazon business that is not sustainable, we brought in an expert. In this episode, Mark interviews James Thomson. James spent five plus years at Amazon. He was business head of Amazon Services and the first FBA account manager. He is the President and co-founder of the PROSPER Show a seller education organization that shares best practices for online businesses. He is also a partner at Buy Box Experts a marketing agency for Amazon sellers. James is an extremely smart and trustworthy guy. We do business with a lot of intelligent people, but he really stands out. Mark asked James what he would look for in a business if he were going to buy it, and how to build an Amazon business that would be sustainable. We talk about the importance of continual product creation, and how it's much tougher to be really good at selling on Amazon than it used to be. We talk about the importance of having a brand beyond Amazon, the importance of having more than one SKU, and so much more. Episode Highlights: James introduces himself and talks about what he learned at Amazon and how he is on the other side helping sellers now. The number one problem FBA sellers have now is not paying proper sales tax on the orders. Many states are getting aggressive about auditing sellers. The state of Massachusetts is suing Amazon to get a list of the FBA sellers. The sales tax amnesty program allows sellers to come forward and to start collecting sales tax and back taxes are forgiven. To be successful on Amazon every seller should understand what their profit and loss is on every skew. Look at the data and see what your return rate is along with right off cost and acquisition cost. Understand your overhead cost things like heating, shipping, warehouse, employees, etc. Ask yourself where your competitive advantage is coming from. With Amazon there is no limit to the amount of competition you can have on one skew. A lot of sellers source exclusively for one particular brand. Private label brands are another common method. You can make a lot of money, but you have to be extremely disciplined. Sellers must excel in operational discipline. You must have a daily, weekly, and monthly process. Inventory, data, and making adjustments and course correcting. You need to know how to create amazing Amazon listings and to bid on great advertising rates. Know how to play the Amazon game. The importance of building outside traffic such as Facebook traffic. Put a value on your social media following because that is the secret sauce to drive traffic to your listing. Resources: Prosper Show Buy Box Experts James Thomson on LinkedIn Sales Tax Amnesty Program