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What does it take to grow a brand on Amazon today? The rules have changed, and Amazon is now less of a storefront and more of a dynamic ad and data platform. In this episode, Jayson Boyce, Founder and CEO of Avenue7Media, joins host Reid Jackson to share what he's learned over 22 years in the e-commerce world. From selling as a reseller to building a brand and leading an agency, Jayson explains why success now depends on feeding the algorithm, not pitching to buyers. He breaks down how streaming TV is driving direct Amazon sales, the problem with locked attributes and UPCs, and why attribution is finally catching up to the promise of connected TV. In this episode, you'll learn: Why traditional retail rules don't apply to Amazon How Connected TV can accelerate brand growth What makes Amazon profitable when compared to DTC Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Introducing Next Level Supply Chain (02:53) From failed consulting to full-service agency (06:26) Fixing locked attributes and bad UPC data (09:59) Streaming ads that convert like e-commerce (13:56) Selling to algorithms, not people (16:34) Comparing Amazon to direct-to-consumer (20:44) Why CTV is outperforming display ads (26:48) How AI will change the way we shop Connect with GS1 US: Our website - www.gs1us.org GS1 US on LinkedIn Connect with the guest: Jayson Boyce on LinkedInCheck out Avenue7Media
Welcome to our latest episode where we unpack the essential, yet often overlooked, basics of the music industry: ISRCs (International Standard Recording Codes) and barcodes (UPCs). Whether you're an indie artist, managing a record label, or looking to sharpen your industry knowledge, this episode is packed with valuable insights for you! Presented by Hellbender Vinyl - http://hellbendervinyl.com
Riding Shotgun With Charlie #206 Joe Meaux Aklys Defense There has only been one other time when someone has driven the stagecoach and I was in the shotgun seat. That was episode #039 with Kevin Sona from Florida Carry. This time Joe Meaux because he had “sensitive materials” in the car and I wouldn't know what to tell the police if we were pulled over. I met Joe in 2023 at NRA AM in Indianapolis. There was a group of us that went for dinner. This year, Brent, my roomie for the weekend ran into Joe and said he had a van full of machine guns and silencers. How can I not film this show? Joe lives in Louisiana and he took an interest in building firearms at a young age. He also spent time repairing lawn mowers when he was young, which came in handy when it was time to build AR. Building an AR was much more affordable than buying one. He would buy kits and put them together. Being a subject matter expert on building and working with computers gave him the chance to teach information technology and business at a local high school where he was only a few years older than the students. Currently, he owns Aklys Defense. His company makes silencers, suppressors, gun muffler quiet technology, a can, or a yeeter discreeter. Aklys makes their own products, but they also make some OEM products for other manufacturers. Let's get this debate over: the first patent was for a silencer. Yes, we all know it doesn't “silence” the sound, but the first gun muffler was called a silencer. Joe also says the ATF refers to it as a silencer, too. We've also just learned the ATF may be wrong about what they call items (Hello, Mr Michael Cargill!) Joe's teaching gig and experience with computers and web design was able to help him connect with Red Jacket Firearms. After some bartering, he was able to get a nicer AK kit in exchange for helping with their computers. He was offered a position to help build guns and he took it. Unbeknownst to Joe, Will Hayden, Red Jacket's owner, submitted a sizzle reel to Discovery. It took some time to pick up Sons of Guns and make it happen. Joe says it was a little weird trying to do work, but Will wanted to build in some drama. They also had a business to run and keep going. Sons of Guns went on for five seasons and during the filming of season six, things got bad. (You can google what went down.) Joe and his partners ended up managing the business and working to change the image and branding. He made the decision to rebrand and start over as Aklys Defense. We do drive through Dealey Plaza twice. It's become a tradition when we're filming in Dallas. The second time through, I saw someone in tan pants and a black polo shirt. It ended up being Matt Mallory with Klint Macro. I've done two shows with the Meet The Pressers gents. I did get a copy of the clip of us driving through their video, which adds some fun! Joe gives us some insight into the business side of things, like having SKUs and UPCs. He's fired many different machine guns in his time. And he also tells us his top machine guns and why he feels a connection to the grease gun from World War II. Ok.. maybe a little bit about the Vegas shooting comes up, too. Aklys Defense is doing well and will keep doing well. If you need a silencer, check their website and get one from Aklys. I say it often, I really love my gig! I enjoy making all kinds of friends in the gun community. Favorite quotes: “While the computer was defragging, I went and assembled an AK.” “There wasn't a lot of business drive, I thought I could help with that.” “I lost a lot of investment money, time, credibility,” “I worked hard to make sure the Red Jacket brand was inserted before the Sons of Guns brand.” “We've made suppressors, need to learn how to make these good,” Meaux Guns https://www.meauxguns.com/ Aklys Defense https://www.aklysdefense.com/ Aklys Defense https://www.facebook.com/Aklysdefense Aklys Defense Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aklysdefense Aklys Defense X https://x.com/Aklysdefense Second Amendment Foundation https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms https://www.ccrkba.org/ Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters. Buy RSWC & GunGram shirts & hoodies, stickers & patches, and mugs at the store! http://ridingshotgunwithcharlie.com/rswc-shop/ Dennis McCurdy Author, Speaker, Firewalker http://www.find-away.com/ Self Defense Radio Network http://sdrn.us/ Buy a Powertac Flashlight, use RSWC as the discount code and save 15% www.powertac.com/RSWC SABRE Red Pepper Spray https://lddy.no/1iq1n Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-shotgun-with-charlie/id1275691565
“There's a lot of things that come with being able to support a retailer like that… If you're not ready for those things, then go DTC first because you also have to have: Is your product merchandisable? Do you have unit cartons? Do you have UPCs? All of these kinds of operational tactical things that you can really kind of speak to, but high-level it's like, ‘Do you have enough money?' It would be my very first question.” In this episode of Entreprenista, we sat down with Tisha Thompson, founder and CEO of LYS Beauty, a brand conceptualized with skin-loving formulas that redefine the definition of beauty. LYS is the first Black-owned Sephora clean makeup brand, created to fill a void in the market for clean, high-performance makeup that serves all skin tones. Drawing on her 18-year career in beauty, Tisha is dedicated to offering products that not only enhance natural beauty but also promote skin health, embodying her commitment to empowering individuals to feel confident and beautiful inside and out. Tune in to hear how Tisha's passion for makeup and beauty stems from her love of transformation, why representation is so important, and how she has managed to keep LYS self-funded. We talked about: Tisha started her career in beauty with a makeup artist side hustle (04:46) Knowing when the time is right to start a business (11:36) The process of pitching to Sephora (19:09) Best practices for promoting a brand (32:29) Using project management software (35:32) Connect with Tisha: Instagram LYS Beauty LYS on Instagram Are you ready to make meaningful business connections that lead to real business results? Join our Entreprenista League community of women founders at entreprenista.com/join! You'll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day, special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels, and access to Office Hours with top founders who have been on our show! We can't wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Entreprenista Podcast - the most fun business meeting for women founders and leaders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Radio | GooglePlay Be sure to share your favorite episodes across social media to help us reach more amazing female founders, like you.
NotiMundo Estelar - Estefanía Grunauer, Rehabilitación de UPCs y Demolición de La Tribuna.. by FM Mundo 98.1
Subscribe to Behind The Pursuit: From Bourbon to Brand Stemming from the episode of the Bourbon Pursuit podcast with John Foster of Ragged Branch, today's episode comes from a few listeners of the show, Todd and David, as Kenny discusses the process of choosing distributors specifically for Pursuit Spirits. We touch on topics such as the three-tier distribution system, the role of distributors in the industry, and the challenges of market launches and incentives. We also share experiences with different distributors and the importance of building relationships in the industry. Kenny discusses the challenges of managing skew sprawl and UPCs in the bourbon industry. He explains how Pursuit Spirits aims to strike a balance between batch uniqueness and consumer familiarity. He also shares advice for those starting in the industry, emphasizing the importance of education and consulting. He explores different distribution models and the goals brands may have, whether it's long-term brand building or rapid expansion... but where is Pursuit in all of this? We hit on: Choosing the right distributor being crucial for a brand's success in the spirits industry. The three-tier distribution system presenting both challenges and opportunities for brands. Market launches, market support, and building relationships with distributors and retailers. Different distributors strengths and capabilities, and the importance of finding the right one for each market. Brand consideration of their goals and a distribution model that aligns with their long-term plans, whether it's slow brand building or rapid expansion. Pursuit Spirits' own business model. and much more. Be sure to visit pursuitspirits.com and click on Visit Us to book a tasting or barrel selection experience. For questions or topic requests on upcoming episodes, email us at podcast@pursuitspirits.com.
Listen in as we welcome Delaney Del Mundo, a veritable goldmine of e-commerce expertise with a rich background from Walmart to the pulsing beat of TikTok Shop and the competitive arena of Amazon. Our conversation traverses her journey from the sunny streets of Los Angeles to the pioneering days at Walmart.com post their Jet acquisition. Delaney is now the Director of the Amazon strategy team at Vendo, where she masterfully balances profit and loss management, SEO support, and listing optimization. As we explore her current role, you'll discover the ins and outs of her approach to fostering brand success across diverse marketplaces. Tune in to hear Delaney shed light on the complexities of affiliate networks and content-creator partnerships that can make or break a brand's profitability. With the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce, we tackle TikTok Shop's growing influence on content strategies, emphasizing the critical shift from keywords to engagement. Delaney also provides valuable insights into Amazon's new inventory fees, offering strategic advice for navigating these changes without sacrificing the bottom line. The conversation pivots to a holistic view of business health, focusing on the vital lifetime value to customer acquisition cost ratio. In our discussion, Delaney takes us through the intricate process of using Amazon's Search Query Performance, revealing how strategic analysis can lead to improved visibility and sales. By leveraging tools like Helium 10's Cerebro and Market Tracker 360 for competitor analysis tools, she unveils techniques to stay ahead in the competitive e-commerce landscape. Delaney's enthusiasm for these tools' potential to revolutionize market analysis and her anticipation for future enhancements are infectious. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting, this episode is packed with strategies to propel your brand forward in the dynamic world of selling on Amazon. In episode 544 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Delaney discuss: 00:00 - Strategies for E-Commerce Success 04:14 - Strategic Amazon Management and Planning 10:32 - Walmart Marketplace vs. Walmart Stores 13:09 - E-Commerce Strategies and Amazon Inventory Fees 20:58 - Search Query Performance for Sellers 21:09 - Search Query Optimization and Market Analysis 26:16 - Market Analysis Tools and Travel Tales 28:04 - Utilizing Time Tracker for Competitive Advantage 32:00 - Maximizing Brand Visibility and Cross-Sales 36:05 - Upcoming Event in Manila ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got an industry expert with a lot of experience on Walmart, TikTok shop and Amazon who's gonna be giving us tons of cool strategies, including some that no one has ever talked about on this show before. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image or Amazon changed their shipping dimension so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me/alerts. Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And now we are having for the first time in the show, Delaney. Welcome to the show. Delaney: Thanks, Bradley, happy to be here. I think it's long awaited on my side, so glad to be joining you today. Bradley Sutton: Yes, yes, Now we first met at least you know, I've known about you because we've worked with Vendo a lot in the past, and I think I met you first at the maybe in Puerto Rico, at the billion dollar seller summit, and I looked across the room. I was like she looks like a white flip like me, which, for those who don't know us, half Filipino and half American, and that's what I am. I don't look like it. She does, and so I was like are you just what Filipinos do? Like? There's that Jokoy's joke where they're like oh yeah, my mom was Filipino when she sees somebody. But I did that exact same thing. I'm like Filipino, American. And she's like, yep, I'm like, oh, I could. Then me too. And anyways, we bonded there and I was like all right, a fellow Filipino American in the Amazon world, we got to have you on the podcast. So no, that's not the reason why I had you on the podcast. I heard from your boss that you are an A player and know your stuff and I'm like that's the kind of person we want on the show. But anyways, Delaney, enough about me and my rambling here. Let's just start with where I mean we met Puerto Rico, but where in the world are you right now? Where do you live? Delaney: Yes, Bradley, I'm out in Los Angeles, so actually not too far away from you today. But speaking of the Filipino American, yes, you're right, it seems like my mom's genes might be stronger than your Filipino side. I got the Sinigang and the Adobo in the fridge. Don't worry, I'm more than I think. Bradley Sutton: Yes. There we go. Delaney: But yes, I'm out in LA. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, is that where you were born and raised? Delaney: Yep, born and raised in LA, lived for a few years out in New York but made my way back here. So, plans, where do you live? In New York? I lived in the city for a few years and then also in the upstate New York area, so Nice. Bradley Sutton: I lived in Brooklyn myself for a couple years. Where'd you go to high school? In LA? Delaney: High school. I went to Burroughs High School out in Burbank. Bradley Sutton: In Burbank? Okay, nice. And then how about college? Delaney: College, Hamilton College in upstate New York. Bradley Sutton: So a really very rare that somebody gives me a college or university I have never, ever heard of. Delaney: Yeah, there were 1800 kids in the entire school. So super small community, but small and tight. Bradley Sutton: Well, what do you study? Delaney: I studied economics. Bradley Sutton: Interesting Now, when you graduated, did you work at all into there, or did you already find e-commerce by that time? Or what's your journey to e-commerce like? Delaney: Yeah, so I actually got my start over on the Walmart side of the business, so working for Walmart.com as soon as Walmart had acquired Jet. So I was part of that group of individuals and then found my way on the brand side for a few years working at Walmart. Bradley Sutton: What did you do at Walmart? Delaney: So you might have told me that, but I forgot it. No, no, no, I managed the beauty category there. So on the dot-com side worked closely with the store merchants and grew the beauty channel. Bradley Sutton: Interesting, okay, and then how did you get to the Amazon side of things? Delaney: Yeah. So then from there, ended up shifting over to the brand side. For a few years worked for a beauty brand and at that beauty brand managed all their retailer.com channels, so Zulily, eBay, Walmart.com, Amazon.com, etc. So a bit more full circle. And now here at Vendo, leading, of course, the Amazon team as well as TikTok shop, which is one of our newer channels that we launched just a few months ago now. And then, of course, as you know, Bradley, you've had some of our Walmart.com teammates on the podcast as well. Bradley Sutton: Okay, and then what do you specifically do, like what's your specialties? I guess what's your daily? I know actually you actually do a podcast as well, but outside of the podcast, what are you doing for clients? Delaney: Yeah, so I'm the director of Amazon strategy, so I lead our team of account strategists here. But in terms of what Vendo does everything from P&L and forecast management towards direct management of the Amazon channel, managing advertising, marketing etc I'm more on the strategic side. So a lot of what you would look at from listing optimizations, SEO support, ranking, impact and really just understanding what strategies were implementing to hit brands top line and bottom line goals, both on the three-piece side and our one-piece side of the business through vendor central. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome. All right, we're going to start broad here and then go narrow as we go on. But you know, since you have, you know, your company and you yourself have dabbled, I guess you could say, in a lot of different marketplaces. Be it, you know, amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop is kind of like the top three. What's just your state of the union in 2024 about the trajectory of each of these? Are all still going up. Is one skyrocketing over the other? Is one of them going down, one of them staying flat? What's your outlook for this year? Delaney: So I think, as far as trajectory, TikTok shop has the greatest potential Just being. Their affiliate network is so strong and the platform itself is extremely simplified, so it's not hard for a lot of sellers to join TikTok shop right now, and just in terms of their affiliate network. We obviously know that creator connections on the Amazon side has been in beta for quite some time, but I think TikTok shop has the upper hand when it comes specifically down to affiliate, just because of the ease of the platform and the fact that you can set these targeted collaborations per item, per creator that you reach out to. So Vendo has an in-house influencer and affiliate team which we're able to leverage, of course, but that allows us to glean great insights on the targeted collaborations and the open collaborations on TikTok shop. Delaney: Amazon specifically, I mean we'll see. I think they're always on an upward trajectory, given the amount of data that they have access to and just as far as shipping and logistics, they're always ahead of the curve there. But we have to look out for specific categories. If we look at platforms like Temu, which I know generated a ton of buzz after the Super Bowl with how much they're investing in different ads, Fashion categories, we know that Amazon referral fees are dropping in some of those categories. So we'll see. Right, I think Amazon's going to probably have to take some action across categories if Temu starts to undercut price and we'll see if Amazon also starts matching there. Delaney: And then Walmart.com is a silent killer. I mean, they have their stores that they're able to leverage. So with their store specifically, that opens up a ton of opportunity. I think that oftentimes a lot of Walmart.com sellers don't realize that if they are, or if they have the potential to sell on the one-piece side of the business, that opens up a whole new avenue with online pickup and delivery. And many times Walmart.com sales are grossly underreported because unless you're investing in to illuminate, you don't see those OPD sales naturally. So you might think the channel is smaller than it is, but it's really larger than what it appears to be on paper, just given the level of data that Walmart actually has versus what it discloses. Bradley Sutton: All right, I know you're a little bit out of the Walmart game, but I'm going to ask you a Walmart-specific question because I just want to see how relevant this is. This is something that I've been telling people, but my experience is about six, seven years old now. So I used to work for this company that does supplements and they're kind of like a famous company. They would do infomercials and things like that and I was their sales manager and people don't understand the size of Walmart brick and mortar because it was like, you know, like I was so proud of myself, I grew their Amazon sales from like $500,000 a year to like $3 million. I would have Walmart PO. That was for 20 SKUs, by the way. I would have Walmart POs for their one SKU that were like in the one to $2 million, just because of how many stores you know Walmart has, etc. So it was like it dwarfs Amazon, you know, unless you're like a huge whale on Amazon. Now, that being said, like what I, a couple of things I did was I started a couple brands or not a couple of brands a couple of products on the brand on Amazon, and then I moved it to Walmart. First of all, we already had a somewhat of a relationship with Walmart and then Walmart.com buyer, you know saw that I was dominating one of the subcategories and they're like all right, let's bring this I don't remember what it was called, but it's kind of like what Amazon calls vendors, a vendor central or something, where it's like, hey, we'll buy this from you, so that's shipped and fulfilled by Walmart because it's doing well. And they're like cool. Bradley Sutton: And then they're like hey, it started doing well there. And they're like, hey, let's take this and let's add this to brick and mortar. And that's when, obviously, you know, sales blow up. Now For me that's what I tell people of that story about like, how, why? Even though maybe if you just start something on Amazon or Walmart, you know sales could be 10 to 150 to one Amazon or Walmart. But the reason to start on Walmart is if you start, you know, making some waves, you can start selling to Walmart and then potentially, you can just get in front of a buyer because you can't, you know, just come in off the street and say, hey, I've got this cool new product, you know, would you just put it in Walmart brick and mortar? You know, unless you've got connections, is that still valid in 2024? Like is that kind of like the process that could potentially not guaranteed, obviously, but that could potentially happen. Delaney: Absolutely 100%. And I think that is sometimes what a lot of brands make a mistake with on Walmart.com or just in Walmart stores in general, is they go to Walmart stores too early. And if you go to Walmart stores too early then that really does a number to your brand from a profitability standpoint. So that's why Walmart marketplace is a great avenue for you to start, because you can even get Sam support, which is a strategic account manager on the Walmart three P side of the business who can help you and make sure that you're pulling those levers and in growing your brand on Walmart.com to go to stores. So yes, Bradley, 100% a great avenue to start. And looking at again just Amazon versus Walmart strategy, it isn't just let's go bring all of our Amazon's use over to Walmart, because both algorithms are getting a lot better from a pricing standpoint at identifying different prices. So we've seen pricing down to the price per ounce standpoint. So it doesn't even matter sometimes if you're launching completely different UPCs, they're still matching. So it's really important that before you launch on Walmart.com even if you've been selling on Amazon for quite some time you think about maybe differentiating different pack sizes or just different flavors of your product. That way there is a difference there that you can grow a completely new set of products. Bradley Sutton: Before we get to your specialty, which is Amazon, let's talk a little bit about TikTok shop. It's a different marketplace in that I've never sold in TikTok shop, so please feel free to correct me if any of what I'm saying is wrong, but to me it's different because it's not like something that you could do traditional keyword research. I know there's some tools and helium tents working on some things now that can analyze hashtags and things like that, but you don't really have control over what's necessarily indexed or getting to page one. It's like so just dependent on just the virality of something or a famous influencer showing it. Is that kind of what you see? It's kind of like completely hit or miss, where you have the least amount of control over your success. As far as on just regular TikTok shop, obviously you have control over how you advertise and how many impressions you get, but as far as just a post going viral and getting a lot of sales from it, do you feel like you have not as much control as on other platforms, or is that changed? Delaney: No, 100%. You're correct in that as well. I think that's why the affiliate network is so powerful, but is also. You need a defined strategy there. You need to know your exact demographic. You need to know which subset of creators you're looking to target, based on their engagement rate, their follower count, et cetera and you really need to do a deep dive into their content to make sure that they fit the brand, because you can reach out to as many creators as you want to through there, but at the end of the day, if they're not gonna generate sales from your brand, you're now giving away free samples and that could impact your bottom line. So I think yes as a whole. Definitely from a ranking standpoint, I think TikTok shop's going to evolve in that sense. When you're setting up items, there's specific keywords that they want you to be focusing on, but those are all of the benefit driven keywords or the main claims and the listings, so it doesn't appear that, from a ranking standpoint, those hold as much weight. It's literally how many pieces of content are you pushing out and how is the engagement of that content? So it is incredibly important that you have a solidified content strategy, and TikTok shop allows you to. There's like a get inspired section and you can see a bunch of content that's currently working on the platform that you could pull from in different categories and get ideas on how you can be capitalizing on that for your brand too. Bradley Sutton: Moving to Amazon. I'm not sure if you have experience in this much at all or if you've looked into it, but last night I for the first time, kind of like, took a deep dive into the new inventory placement fees that are coming. I was just seeing here and there, like some I don't know, I don't want to say horror stories but people are getting really scared, like, oh my goodness, my shipping is going to be 2x, mine's going to be 3x. I'm like what, for reals? So I went and what I did was I looked in my own account and by the time this episode is airing it's going to be in full effect. So I'm sure we'll know more. But I was like, yeah, there was a shipment that I had sent to one location only. I didn't choose to just, amazon had me do it. I guess it was like a hundred units of some coffin shelves, right, and it was like 77 bucks or something, because it was like shipping from San Diego to LA and so you know like it's obviously 77 cents per unit. And then I was looking all right in under the new world if I shipped to one location in California, which is obviously my preference, because it took probably a day to get there right. And it was cheaper. It was like a 68 cents per unit charge. So I was like, wait a minute, it is like double. You know what it is Like. Have you looked into this at all and started like thinking about for your clients, like what you're going to have to suggest to them to do or if they're going to have to change the way that they send replenishment? Delaney: Yeah, I mean most of them right now don't send to a single location, but it is very category dependent and so that's what we've seen. So for some categories specifically, there's actually a savings attached to it, but others, like yours, of course, Bradley, you're seeing a steeper charge there. So I think it does 100% matter and that's something in which we keep PNLs on an item level and are updating those PNLs whenever a new FBA fee is introduced, whenever a new inventory placement fee is introduced, just so we can understand the impact of some of these newer fees. But majority across the board, we are seeing increases due to the inventory placement fee. So it's just something that now a lot of our brands that do ship to a single location they're really going to have to evaluate whether that is worth it for their business or not 2024, what is different than a couple years ago or even then, then last year? Bradley Sutton: like what are your? You and your clients having to do a lot differently. There's a lot that's the same. Hey, keyword research is keyword research. Sure, I you know there's some people who might are predicting changes that might happen when Amazon rolls out new AI stuff. My personal opinion is that might, may or may not happen, and even it does happen. I still think traditional, like you know, keyword research and stuff is still going to be important, because you still have to let Amazon know what the product is. But, aside from speculation and stuff, just what are you having to do differently nowadays, whether it's advertising, whether it's listing optimization, whether it's a plus content, whatever that you weren't doing last year, maybe a year ago or two years ago? Delaney: The biggest change, I think, has just been the continued focus on profitability. I think that into last year as well, profitability was at the forefront of the business, where maybe a couple years ago it was more so focused on top line growth. But now really, as brands diversify their channel strategy, their understanding that, you know, with some rising Amazon fees, their bottom line maybe doesn't look as good as it did a couple years ago. And that's where, on the vendor side of the business, we're really looking at LTV to cat ratios, because a lot of our brands might be more hesitant to discount. Bradley Sutton: I know what that means, but explain it to everybody else out there. Delaney: Yeah. So LTV lifetime value, cat customer acquisition costs. So you want the LTV versus cat ratio to be healthy. A lot of agencies will probably tell you a three to one ratio is more so on the healthy side, which basically just means that what you're paying to acquire for a new customer, they're generating at least three times that rate in their overall lifetime value. In other words, they're coming back to repeat purchase from your brand. And I think that as we run promotions and we participate in some of these tent pull events, we're getting more and more pushback from brands who don't want to engage in, let's say, a Prime Day or a Black Friday, cyber Monday or any other tent pull moment that exists for their brand. But we're able to pull reports in which we analyze okay, how many new customers are we generating during these periods? And then for that cohort of new customers, what is their lifetime value in the next six, nine, 12 months? And in many cases that metric is healthy. And if you look at Helium 10 Market Tracker 360, Search Query Performance, keyword tracker, you'll see that in keyword tracker, your non branded keywords are experiencing an increase in overall organic rank during that time. Because of that increase in organic rank Search Query Performance, your purchase share is growing on that particular subset of keywords. And then you pull back a larger time horizon and for many of our brands looking at Market Tracker 360, they're doubling overall market share, while brands that aren't participating are decreasing in market share, and for extended periods of time. So thanks, Bradley, for all the innovation on that side, because that has helped tremendously. But it's really understanding what are the dynamics in the market and when we're not participating in these events, how does our market share change? Bradley Sutton: Okay, let's definitely talk in a little bit about some Helium 10 tools like Market Tracker 360, but Before then you mentioned, like Search Query Performance, how what's your best use cases for Search Query Performance? And or, if you're using it, product opportunity explorer in Amazon, because I think it's so cool that Amazon has is releasing so much more data than back in the old days. Some people say, what at Helium 10, aren't you scared of like? No, it's great. Like every time Amazon releases something, it helps us make even our tools better and actually validate some of the things that we've always shown. So we love it when Amazon opens up new data points. So, how are you using like what's the? You know you could probably have a whole episode about Search Query Performance or OX, but maybe the top, like one or two things that that you think sellers can be getting value out of. Delaney: Yeah. So on the Search Query Performance side, it's really identifying. First and foremost we look at where is your click share greater than your impression share? This is going to be your probably subset of keywords in which there's a ton of opportunity. There just might be a visibility standpoint You're not showing up. Let's see what we can do in terms of optimizing our listings for these keywords. Looking again into Cerebro and doing a reverse look up there to see what are my opportunity keywords in which I can improve my ranking on page one four and then tying that into okay, once I do that, how is Search Query Performance cleaning insights into changes in my overall click share, impression share, add to cart share, purchase share and what does that look like over a prolonged period of time? So a lot of people might look at okay, I want to look at a larger subset of keywords to go after, but really you should narrow this down to probably your top five to 15 at the onset subset of keywords that you're tracking regularly in keyword tracker and also in Search Query Performance to see how that changes. So in Search Query Performance again, just understanding, is my purchase share growing on these terms as I prioritize them more and then putting that back into our ads. And where am I ranked in terms of my top of search impression share for these particular terms? Is my top of search impression share now growing as I want to invest more and two and more relevant for these terms? And then three, let's look back at Search Query Performance and see how my purchase share is growing. Delaney: And then, on the opportunity explorer side, I think that's a great tool. Just understanding, okay, how saturated is my niche? Looking at the top 90% of clicks, is there opportunity in this niche? If my brand is looking to launch a new item, that's where we see the most value in it is okay. How many products have been launched more recently within this niche? What does the opportunity look like for pricing? What does the opportunity look like for reviews? Where do we need to be at within that particular niche to be at the category average so that our conversion rate is benchmarked within the category average? And then I really love the review aspect of things, so being able to really update your content to see positive review sentiments, negative review sentiments, and how are we tackling some of these things that are going wrong within the category as it exists? So, as you said, brad, that we could talk about it for probably three episodes, but that's the basis. Bradley Sutton: Good stuff there. I'm just waiting in anticipation for it to be available, like in the API. Then that's going to allow Helium 10 to do a lot more, even fun things, and combining it even more with Helium 10 data points I love looking at. For example, what is your impressions compared to the search volume? Because theoretically, the impression should be a little bit higher than the search volume, because if you're showing up at the top of the page, maybe an organic and in sponsored, you would have that more. But then it's like all right, let me bring in the exact two graphs of sponsored and organic over the last week or month and like oh okay, this is why it's not where I need it to be. I need to improve. You know there's just like so much fun stuff that that could definitely happen. Now, another tool you mentioned Market Tracker 360, a lot of you know, or some of Helium 10 users out there, might not be familiar with that tool, because it's actually one of the first tools that I think Helium 10 has. That's kind of like really for large sellers or agencies. You know, like you guys like almost everything Helium 10 has. You know we've got billion dollar companies like Lego or something using it, and it's just as applicable to a brand new seller. But this is one of the probably the first tools where I was like wow, I'm not sure I need this. Personally, I'm not that huge of a seller anymore, like maybe only I think I might have only done like half a million or 750,000 last year. I'm like I'm not sure this is for me, but some people just like yourself, you really get a lot of use. So for most people they've never even seen what it does. Can you just briefly talk about how you guys use Market Tracker 360 and how it helps you guys? Delaney: Yeah, absolutely so. In Market Tracker 360, you can either choose a subset of products so oftentimes you're going to choose your competitors or you choose some top keywords within the space. Those are the two most heavily used use cases that we use here. So we'll choose a bunch of the non-branded keywords within the space and we'll put those into Market Tracker 360. And then what it will do is it will pull a bunch of competitors and also your product that are relevant for those specific keywords and literally build a market for you. So, using this market, you can see what is the percentage of overall sales that each competitor is generating, as well as what is this track back to a dollar value. And, yes, we have spot checked that multiple times and it is a pretty accurate there in terms of the sales that it's pulling. So what we do is we'll include that in our product launch phase. When we receive a new brand into the Vendo pipeline, we look at okay, how are they situated within the market right now compared to these top competitors? And of course, we know who the top competitors are. The brand has shared that with us, and then you can dive deeper into different filters that you can set so you can say, okay, I only want to filter this to a title that includes this keyword, like, let's say, the title includes protein powder or it is situated in this specific category or subcategory. That way you can really define that market even more so, and now you don't have as broader of a set of different competitors in that market. It is a lot more specific to your overall market. Or, if you only want to benchmark it towards like five competitors versus the entire market, you can do that too and exclude specific competitors from showing up there. So that's the basis of Market Tracker 360 and how we use it. But then it goes even further deeper into there's different keyword insights that you can see through Market Tracker 360. And where are those competitors now winning? How has the ranking of those competitors on the organic and the sponsored standpoint changed with time? So that's probably my favorite tool in Helium 10, Bradley. Bradley Sutton: Nice, nice. What about the regular side of Helium 10, which I know you have a lot of experience with? What's your favorite tool? And then my secondary and it's use case. And my secondary question would be if you had a wish list of your top thing that Helium 10 doesn't have currently, doesn't have to be Amazon, could be about Walmart, could be something about TikTok shop. What would be the number one thing? If you were like, hey, I can be the Helium 10 director of product for a day, what would you make our team get started on working for you? Delaney: Yes. So I'll start with your first question related to my favorite tool. It has to be Cerebro. Just going back to the roots, looking at the time tracker function that you guys have more recently added, it's probably been probably not even a year yet, right, Bradley? But that tool is extremely powerful because, again, if you have a brand that experiences a ton of seasonality, you can go back to those specific periods in time to see how you were ranked on specific terms, as well as how your competition is and also what are seasonal terms that you need to be taking advantage of. And I think that is often something that a lot of brands miss is hey, there might be 500 searches per month for this particular keyword now, but three months from now there's going to be 5,000. So what are you doing with that information? How are you getting ahead of it from a creative standpoint? How are you optimizing your listings to make sure that those specific keywords are being highlighted? And then, on the advertising side, your competitors probably aren't going to know to be winning on those specific keywords either. So you could get the upper hand by understanding I need to be ranked on page one at this exact moment of time, on the top half of page one, ideally in the top three to five slots. And once I can get there, then I know that when this search volume hits its peak I'll be the competitor that's getting a majority of the conversion share there. So that's got to be my by far my favorite aspect there. Delaney: And then apologies, Bradley, I'm on the second question, related to what I would like to see from an agency side. My vendor central experience probably speaks to including a few more vendor central aspects in there, just because from a purchase order standpoint that is a huge area that we would leverage. But honestly, I think from an FBA standpoint I would have to say forecasting, because I think that inventory management is a huge challenge for a lot of brands and forecasting allows us to better understand what our projections and what our inventory demand is going to look like throughout the year. And then my second one, if we're throwing things in here, would just be variations. So I know with inventory protector you can update maximum order values and things like that. If we could directly change variations in Helium 10 or really be able to decipher, maybe even submit cases for variations that are wrong some more technical things there, but all things that I feel like would be extremely powerful, because that's where a lot of time is spent trying to update things that maybe Amazon is using. It's not updating, even after multiple cases. Bradley Sutton: Cool, cool. Now, before we get into some of your final strategies of the day, if people want to reach out to Vendo Commerce guys, one of the easiest ways is just go to hubhelium10.com and type in Vendo, which is Spanish for I sell. So whoever made that company name is a genius and you can reach out to them there. But if people want to follow you or reach out to you, how can they find you on the interwebs out there? Delaney: Yes, you could find me at delaney@vendocommerce.com and, as Bradley said, also have a podcast that I know Bradley will be joining me on in a couple weeks Vendo Commerce Velocity as well as on LinkedIn. I'm on there, delaney@vendocommerce.com. Bradley Sutton: A couple, maybe quick hitting SST, what I call my 60-second strategies. By the way, that's also something that comes from my Filipino side, because I think that's how our mothers or grandparents would call us when they're trying to. You know, come over here. But anyways, for everybody else, that just stands for a 60-second tip. So what is a couple of 60-second tips or strategies that you can talk about that our sellers can influence? Delaney: Yeah. So, from a more data-centric standpoint, make sure you're leveraging both Helium 10, Search Query Performance and product opportunity. Explorer tons of insights and the way in which you're telling a cohesive story for your brand. If you combine those tools, they're not meant to be used in silo, they're meant to be used together, but also from a competitive aspect, using the video placement aspect and sending videos. Putting videos on your competitive ASINs is something that's really fundamental, but at the basis of it is just more organic visibility for your listings. So, again, you can add your own branded videos onto competitors listings within the video manager. A lot of brands don't do this, but they will show up if the full video stack is not filled by your competitors. So something to look out for. Delaney: Also, from a cross-sale standpoint, a lot of brands aren't currently leveraging things like targeted cross promotions in which you buy one product and you get 5% to 10% off another product, or the add an accessory widget. A lot of brands think that, yes, that's probably only a SaaS core function if you are investing in that program, but we've seen through filing of multiple cases, you can have that add an accessory widget pop up there and then, just in terms of prime, exclusive discounts. I know that sometimes, and more often, you're seeing that when you add SKUs and prime exclusive discounts they might be getting rejected. So for that I would suggest creating a new SKU, and what we've seen that is that if a SKU is being flagged specifically for FBM or for internal policies, then you can create a new SKU. Add that new SKU instead to your prime exclusive discount and it will still run because that history won't be tied to that new SKU. So those are a few things, but on a larger basis. For a 60-second hack let's say a very not even hack, but tip is to know your PNL, and Amazon has a lot of different tools. Helium 10 has a profits tool to help you understand that. But you do need to understand how much margin you have to work with and evaluate your PNL on a weekly and even a monthly basis. Bradley Sutton: All right. Well, this has definitely been a strategy field episode. Now, on the personal side, you got married last year, so congratulations. Where was your honeymoon? I was living vicariously through your Instagram honeymoon, but where was it Wasn't Maldives. It wasn't the Maldives honeymoon. Delaney: I know, but where'd you guys go? You're going to need to change the name of your honeymoon launch strategy, Bradley, but we went to Italy and then we ended up in Santorini. So a bunch of different spots in Italy and then Santorini in Greece was my favorite. Bradley Sutton: What's some of, overall, your favorite travel spots. Is that something you do, or was that you know? Do you travel with any kind of frequency, or are you more of a homebody? Delaney: Trying to travel more usually, stay stateside, go to Hawaii a decent amount. I can't really get tired of Hawaii, but in terms of some of my favorite places I've been, probably Spain is at the top of the list. So many great places in Europe. But I would say if you haven't been to Santorini, I don't think I'd ever be able to go back, but it is definitely worth a visit. Bradley Sutton: Speaking of Spain, you got to get Darren to send you in May, probably our next Helium 10 Elite workshop. You know we do a quarterly workshop is probably going to be in Madrid in May. So business, business trips/second honeymoon bring your hubby along and, you know, soak up the nightlife in Madrid and the museum. I like, I like how it's both. You know like I can hit those like really cool museums and architecture, and you know they've got good restaurants and nightlife over there. So tell Darren, I'll put in the good word for you. Let's, let's hang out in Madrid next year. Delaney: Yeah, we'll put in the good. I will definitely be bringing that one up to him. So thanks for that, Radley. And then we'll have to make a trip to the Philippines. Bradley Sutton: Yes, well, I'm actually going soon. The Amazon is doing their first event, or not? For the I missed their first event, actually in March, but or in February, I should say. But they're actually doing another event in a couple of months, so, offline, I'll give you some details that they haven't finalized a date on that. But yeah, there's second every event in Manila, and so there we go. You can go and visit some family too and support the community out there. Delaney: There we go. That sounds great. I definitely need to go back. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, all right, well, thank you so much for joining us and it was great to see my sister from another mister right here on this show, and I look forward to being on your show in a couple of weeks.
Stemming from the episode of the Bourbon Pursuit podcast with John Foster of Ragged Branch, today's episode comes from a few listeners of the show, Todd and David, as Kenny discusses the process of choosing distributors specifically for Pursuit Spirits. We touch on topics such as the three-tier distribution system, the role of distributors in the industry, and the challenges of market launches and incentives. We also share experiences with different distributors and the importance of building relationships in the industry. Kenny discusses the challenges of managing skew sprawl and UPCs in the bourbon industry. He explains how Pursuit Spirits aims to strike a balance between batch uniqueness and consumer familiarity. He also shares advice for those starting in the industry, emphasizing the importance of education and consulting. He explores different distribution models and the goals brands may have, whether it's long-term brand building or rapid expansion... but where is Pursuit in all of this? We hit on: Choosing the right distributor being crucial for a brand's success in the spirits industry. The three-tier distribution system presenting both challenges and opportunities for brands. Market launches, market support, and building relationships with distributors and retailers. Different distributors strengths and capabilities, and the importance of finding the right one for each market. Brand consideration of their goals and a distribution model that aligns with their long-term plans, whether it's slow brand building or rapid expansion. Pursuit Spirits' own business model. and much more. Be sure to visit pursuitspirits.com and click on Visit Us to book a tasting or barrel selection experience. For questions or topic requests on upcoming episodes, email us at podcast@pursuitspirits.com.
A common battle occurs between finance and strategy, especially if your finance person is NOT a founder. It's the idea that we should keep and protect all revenue sources, because the company is not making money. In reality, strategic focus is what you need, not proliferation of UPCs. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com Please send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com
Get a NEW Main Image for 50% off at MyAmazonGuy.com/IMG with promo code: CTR
Listen in as we tackle all your burning questions about selling on the Walmart marketplace, from gaining access to coupons and utilizing brand stores to handling comp errors and deactivations. Discover why it's critical to get your inventory to Walmart as soon as possible before the end of October and learn the ropes on what metrics you need to focus on when aiming for the Pro Seller badge. We also tackle your questions straight from our Winning with Walmart Facebook group, so tune in for those insights. Interested in the Walmart Influencer Program? We've got you covered! This episode also explores the ins and outs of the Walmart Influencer Program and provides key updates on when brand stores and video ads will be available to sellers. Listen in as we discuss the approval process for pesticide products on Walmart, the steps to register your trademarks on the platform to get the Walmart brand registry, and whether there is a request a review button in Walmart. Did you know that Helium 10 has tools for the Walmart marketplace? We explore the nitty-gritty of product listings, coupon availability, and how to compete against first-party brands on Walmart. Plus, how to join the Helium 10 Winning with Walmart Facebook Group. Don't miss out on this Serious Sellers Podcast episode to make the most out of your Walmart selling experience! In episode 501 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about: 02:13 - Access to Coupons for Walmart Sellers 06:24 - Walmart's Review Programs and Opportunities 09:48 - Prohibited Items Approval 12:58 - Walmart Image Guidelines and External Traffic 17:39 - Solving Comp Errors on Walmart.com 19:27 - Seller Badge and Rich Media Guide ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Carrie Miller: Today, we're going to be answering all of your burning Walmart questions. In this Ask Me Anything episode. We're going to be answering things such as when are coupons going to be available for everyone? When can I start utilizing brand stores, how can I deal with comp errors and deactivations? This and so much more. Bradley Sutton: How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you guys would like to network with other Walmart sellers, make sure to join our brand new Facebook group called Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. You can actually just search for that on Facebook or you can actually go to h10.me forward slash Walmart group and you can go directly to that page. So make sure to join. You can tag me and carry with questions and ask questions of other Walmart sellers or even share your own experiences in that Facebook group. Carrie Miller: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of this Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Carrie Miller, and this is our Winning with Walmart Wednesday episode, where we answer all of your Walmart questions and we give you all of the latest and greatest information about selling on a Walmart. In this episode I'm going to answer quite a few questions that we've had in the Facebook groups. I asked quite a while ago if you had any burning Walmart questions, so I'm going to go over those questions for everyone today and give you some great answers. In addition to that, I wanted to remind everyone that we are in Q4 already, which is kind of crazy that we're already in the last quarter of the year. But start sending in your inventory now to Walmart, because WFS is already starting to take kind of a longer time to check in products and it's going to just get worse and worse as the holidays keep coming closer. So, just like Amazon, try to get your inventory in by the end of this October and just kind of do more than you're used to sending in. I know last year I actually ran out during the peak season of inventory to forever to get checked in and so I missed like three weeks of December, so it was kind of a bummer. So if you haven't done that, make sure to send in that inventory. Carrie Miller: I want to start answering some of these Walmart questions that everyone had and I think they're really good questions. I think they're going to be very helpful for just looking at these answers for all of you. So the first one is that I had on my list is that someone in the groups asked because they really wanted to know this from Walmart, and these are not official Walmart answers. By the way, this is just some research that I've done. It's no way connected to Walmart, but I did do the best that I could to find answers for all of you that had really important questions for Walmart. So the first question was Amazon allows access to all deals and coupons to every seller, regardless of their sales volume. Carrie Miller: When will Walmart give equal access to things like flash picks to Walmart sellers, equivalent to best deals seven days, and what they said is that deal parity right now does not exist on the Walmart marketplace. However, if you do have an account manager, then they actually can submit those coupons for you. So for those of you who are lucky enough to have an account manager and usually you have to have a certain number, a volume of sales per month in order to get one of these account managers. They actually can help you and they'll be able to submit based on the fact that if you have a you know good seller response rate, if you have good WFS metrics and you know a low number of refunds kind of use it basically in the pro seller range they'll be able to help you with coupons if you're not a one piece seller. So that is something to kind of keep a thought in the back of your mind If you, you know, do have an account manager, ask them about coupons, if you can get into those flash picks and they potentially could help you with that. So sorry, I don't have a better answer, unfortunately, but I think that is a good way, you know, at least for some of you, to get access to some of those coupons. All right, so I'll go to the next question. Carrie Miller: Let's see here when can you tell us more about the Walmart influencer program? So the Walmart influencer program is called the Walmart creator program and they are actually trying to do similar to what Amazon has done and they're recruiting a lot of influencers and I don't know if you've seen this, but I know I've seen this on Instagram because I follow a lot of the fashion deals pages, and they are promoting Walmart products in terms of clothing. Right now. There's a lot of cute stuff that you know Amazon sellers are now putting on Walmart, so these influencers are also promoting it on Walmart and they're getting commissions for it. They get a specific commission based on the category, just like Amazon, and so that is something that's really up and coming and something to keep an eye on. If you are in certain categories like home decor, fashion I think those are really good. You know areas to really utilize those influencers because they already have kind of the right audience for you, and so I would highly recommend kind of checking out. Go on to Instagram and search hashtag Walmart influencer or hashtag Walmart partner and you'll see a bunch of videos come up and you'll see you know whose accounts are really Walmart partners so that you can partner with them. Carrie Miller: Okay, so the next question is I saw that brand stores and video ads are in beta. When will these be available to sellers? Now? This is a question a while ago. Video ads are actually available now to brand registered sellers, which is really, really exciting. So if you have your brand registry all set up in the brand portal on Walmart, you have access, so you should be able to see on Walmart connect the video ads so you can do that. In terms of brand stores, they there isn't an ETA for brand stores, but I do know I've seen some sellers who are in the beta and they are testing it out. So I imagine it's the same as what happened with the videos. The videos were in beta not too long ago and they're going to start rolling out. You know the brand stores probably in a similar way. So that's pretty exciting and I hope it's soon. Carrie Miller: But they encouraged everyone in the meantime to take advantage of rich media. Rich media is like A plus content on Amazon and you can go on to the into the help section for rich media and you can actually get free hosting of videos and 360 images currently. So I would check that out. Otherwise, there are a bunch of agencies that do host rich media and you can get different modules that are really I think they're really great modules that you can utilize on Walmart. You just have to pay per skew, so it's a little expensive but worth it if you can see that conversion All right. Carrie Miller: The next question was Amazon has a request to review button that allows Amazon sellers to press a button on an order and Amazon sends a review request email to the to the customer on the seller's behalf. Will Walmart do something similar to help us get more reviews? So the answer of this is that there isn't something that's currently available but and there isn't a timeline for it to be able to get it to be available. However, Walmart actually does send a review request automatically after seven days to the customers on Walmart to request a review, so that's kind of an automatic thing that they already do. They wanted to also encourage all of the you know Walmart sellers to utilize the review accelerator program. So the review accelerator program if you have on your product five reviews or less, then you can pay $10 to ask your current customers for review. So it's actually, I think, different than Vine, because what it what it happens is that people are already buying your product and they'll send them an email and say, hey, we'll pay you $3 if you'll send in a review and then we pay. We pay Walmart $10 for this service, so it's actually really worth it. Up to five reviews, you can get verified reviews from your actual customers. So review accelerator it's in the growth opportunities tab, so check it out there If you have less than five reviews. There's also a review syndication where you can get your reviews copied and pasted, basically over from your website. So a lot of really cool opportunities for reviews, but they don't have any kind of timeframe for that request review button like Amazon has. However, I do think it's pretty encouraging that they're already sending those emails for us, so that's something that's that's great to see. Carrie Miller: So someone just asked how do you register a trademark on Walmart? So basically, you would take the same trademark that you have as an Amazon seller and you're going to go to the Walmart brand registry portal. It's a whole different website, so you can just Google Walmart brand registry portal and then you're going to apply there. It's very simple. You just put in your information there and you can. You can get accepted pretty quickly. So I would recommend go ahead and Google that and it should be pretty straightforward. Carrie Miller: What is the approval process for pesticide products on Walmart? We have 10 bestselling products on Amazon that we are simply not allowed to list on Walmart. The products have all the required government approvals with the EPA, et cetera. So the answer that I found on this is that there's an item report in Seller's Center and it's gonna have the reason code for why an item isn't published and so you can actually open up a partner support case, for all you know, for the web with whatever the reason code is. And then also, if the item status is on says item on hold, then the seller needs to either submit the required documents or provide the missing attributes to complete the submission. So it'll say what attributes are missing or what documents are missing, and you should be able to submit those. I will say I did kind of a case today you can find it on YouTube and we were uploading a hemp product onto Walmart and it has been quite a challenging process and you can actually see part of the process on YouTube. But I'm gonna give an update soon. But the update really is that they really don't want hemp products in WFS right now and I was able to get it approved to sell on Walmart. But it's been quite a challenging process so I'll go more into details about it. But the good news is we can sell seller fulfilled, just not WFS. So there is hope for any of you who are having an issue to get around that and do seller fulfilled if possible. Carrie Miller: Okay, so the next question is some of my products are not approved to sell via Walmart WFS but they are approved for seller fulfilled. So this is kind of similar to what I was just talking about in regards to the hemp. Is there any special program that I can apply for to get these hazmat products approved for WFS? And it says Amazon has something similar and we are part of the Amazon hazmat program. So the answer was that internally, wfs has recently actually launched an updated prohibited items handling solution across their fulfillment network, which this is actually very new. So, depending on the category, prohibited items are handled in three different teams under the specialty compliance organization hazmat, food safety and non-chemical hazmat. So this is going to hopefully help reduce the time where these products are actually just stuck and unable to be fulfilled with WFS. So definitely inquire about those if you're writing a ticket to kind of be directed to those teams and hopefully we can get some progress on some of those Cause. I know I've seen quite a few questions about this, so I would definitely want to continue to try to get you all more answers about this. So that's the amount of information I have right now. So keep messaging me on Facebook or sending those questions in on the Facebook group winning with Walmart, so that we can help you get those questions answered. Carrie Miller: The next one is my account was denied. What can I do to get approved after I was initially denied? So sometimes well, actually most of the time they don't provide a reason, but there's soft denials and then you can do an appeals process and then there's like termination, which is much harder. So you'll have to kind of usually I think sellcord.co. They are an agency. They have helped a lot of people who have been kind of denied. You can reach out to them. That's kind of the best answer I have. Or you can kind of reach out yourself, but I would kind of suggest contacting somebody who's really good at this, and I do believe SellCord does do a good job of helping people get their accounts. You know out of that status. So if you have had that issue, I would say contact sellcord.co. And that also includes you know if your account is suspended or termination is very hard. So you will definitely need you know, inside access. So I would definitely recommend contacting SellCord for that as well. Carrie Miller: What is Walmart doing to attract more customers to their online marketplace? And so this is a great question and I can definitely answer that they are doing quite a bit. So they have Walmart Plus, which is kind of like Prime, and if you go into the stores they have it advertised everywhere. They're giving discounts on gas, they're giving discounts on just all a bunch of different things within the Walmart programs, like just in store discounts and also delivery and groceries. You get those for free. So they're really pushing for, you know, just getting more customers into Walmart Plus. Now I also saw when I was looking at applying for an American Express Platinum card, that they have a free opportunity for free Walmart Plus If you have that card. So if any of you have that American Express Platinum card, you get free Walmart Plus. So something else to it's basically like a free Prime membership. So I definitely recommend taking advantage of it. But they're doing things like that to really increase the customer reach. Also, if you notice and I've talked about this in other presentations I've done they are doing a lot of external traffic through Google Shopping and they're also doing Bing Shopping. So you'll see your Walmart products show up in Google Shopping and Bing Shopping without even doing any ads. So they are really doing a lot of work to try to drive traffic that way. So hopefully that answers that question. So this might be college. Carrie Miller: This is another question from somebody. This might be common knowledge. But what are the best performing aspect ratios for images on Walmart? Should mean image and secondary images be the same aspect ratios? Is the answer category dependent, and there is definitely some. There are some differences on the different categories. So I would recommend that you go into the Walmart guides and you can look for image guidelines and you're going to be able to find exactly what the image guidelines are for your category. So go ahead and check those out. Carrie Miller: The next question I would like to know why the payment schedule for reporting is every two weeks and then why it sometimes I have to wait a third or fourth week. Now I've seen this question quite a bit in the groups and I don't know exactly what's happening, but it's just a common thread, like I've seen it quite a bit. So if you, if you've had this, you can put it in the in the chat or the comments, because I'd love to know. But basically, the payment should be every two weeks, but something if you're not getting it every two weeks, it should. It's probably an error and I think you should open up a support ticket to see what's going on with that, because that shouldn't be happening. So make sure you kind of figure out what the problem is so that it doesn't continue on. So that's what I would recommend. I don't think that that's part of the process. So it is supposed to be every two weeks. I have confirmed that. So take a look at that. And, yeah, just go into the support and ask what's going on with your particular account. And personally, I did see this actually happen, so it did get fixed. Additionally, when see when removing, when doing removal orders, when it shows on the payment summary, can we get a detail of what the removal order consisted of? So if you want to understand what the removal order maybe consisted of, you can go to the WFS dashboard and that will give you a breakdown and it's going to highlight what was in the removal order. Carrie Miller: Okay, so next one is it possible to allow for multiple SKUs to the same UPC code? Amazon allows this, albeit in one UPC code to one ASIN. So no, this is definitely no. Walmart uses UPCs as their unique identifiers for products. So you cannot have multiple SKUs associated with the same UPC, otherwise you're going to get a lot of errors. So this is really important to make sure you have you own your UPCs and then also that you have an individual UPC for each product. I know back in the day in Amazon you were buying second. You know basically barcodes from other you know third parties because they were more expensive but you can buy individual barcodes from GS1. And I highly recommend doing that to show that you own the UPC codes. Because if you do have somebody hijacking your listing or taking over the content, you can prove with owning UPC code as well as your trademark, that you own that product and the listing so you can get it back. I had a problem with this because one of our products for our Project X did not have a UPC code that was GS1 registered. It was kind of a bot as a third party thing a long time ago and I was unable to get that content back. So it was really kind of frustrating. So I know this from firsthand experience my own business. Carrie Miller: I've always had UPCs for each product because you want to kind of think when you're starting out with these products with the end in mind and growing your brand and business. Each product should have a UPC. We've always been wanting to know if Walmart has a honeymoon period similar to Amazon. Now I haven't had an answer to this. I do not think that it's as intense as it is on Amazon. So what I would recommend is to do your best to optimize start ads. Do whatever you do for Amazon on Walmart and I think that you will be successful. Carrie Miller: The thing about all of this is I noticed people. What they do is they'll open up and start a listing on Walmart and literally just copy and paste what they have on Amazon and they're not doing Walmart PPC or anything like that to help promote their product and they're like why am I not making any sales? Well, you would never launch on Amazon without doing PPC or optimizing for Amazon. Walmart has different guidelines to optimize their listings. So you know, make sure to follow those guidelines and I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised. The next one is what advice do you have to third party sellers to help them compete against first party brands on Walmart? So the answer to this is Walmart really isn't viewing the two as competitive against each other, but they recommend that you find kind of holes where first party sellers are not really, you know, filling in the gap and finding opportunities on Walmart where you can provide products that are not available via 1P. Carrie Miller: When I've gotten a comp error, it feels impossible to get help for this. What is the best way to solve issues dealing with comp errors and how can we find out what the error is so that we can fix it? So then the comp errors are very difficult, I will say, and sometimes what they're saying is that you can actually go into the item report and check the columns. When you upload via flat file or anything like that, you can check the columns, the life cycle status, and then it's going to say published, unpublished or system error, and then on the adjacent column for the, it's going to have an error code and it's going to say things like enhanced vetting, IP infringement, shipping or etc. And you can open up a ticket to get help with this. But in my experience I've noticed that it's usually a pesticide word like antibacterial, antimicrobial. So if you make sure that you don't use any of those illegal words that are, you know, banned on Amazon, then you should be fine, and usually if you kind of delete your listing and rewrite it again. Without those words it'll come up within 15 minutes. So that's been my experience with that. Carrie Miller: So another question here is when some someone first starts selling on Walmart, what can they do to get their products ranked? Is it all based on clicks and sales or is there a lot more weight given to the listing quality score? So they did. You know Walmart doesn't really give me a lot of information about ranking, but I do know, for example, if you get a high listing quality score, that does help with your ranking. So make sure you fill in all those attributes in the back end. You know you enroll in WFS, you have reviews to start out with, get your listing quality score 90% or above, and I think that that will definitely help you. You also want to start running pay-per-click advertising to get some sales and I think you'll start to see yourself ranking as that goes. But in terms of like you know state, you know something that they actually say. It's really quite challenging to really say. Carrie Miller: And then the pro seller was another question. How can a seller become a pro seller and get the pro seller tag on their listing? So you want to make sure that your products are delivered on time. So I recommend using WFS because it takes care of most of the categories that are required for a pro seller. The thing about pro seller badges is you can actually filter on Walmart for pro seller so customers can say I want to only buy from a pro seller. And I noticed when I got the pro seller badge that I was starting to get more and more sales. Carrie Miller: So I will say it isn't an important thing. So you've got. You know, at least you've got an on time delivery rate of 95% or above in the last 90 days. You have less than 1.5% cancellation in the last 90 days. You have a really good seller response rate, higher than 95% in the last 30 days. And then basically it's, you know, fast delivery. And you also have to have over 250 orders in the last 90 days and you have to have at least been active for 90 days. So when you launch your products, you know, do your best to get those 250 orders and get those fast delivery times in and you can get the pro seller badge within 90 days. I think it's really, you know, worth it. Carrie Miller: So I would say WFS is probably the most important thing to make sure that you get that and yeah, so, and then the next thing is what? Will rich media eventually be free to Walmart sellers, like it is on Amazon? So there are some modules that are free, and that is the video and also the 360 image views. You can go into the help center and click on rich media. You can find it there. So otherwise, if you wanted to pay for some in the meantime, you can contact an agency and they can help you with that. Carrie Miller: So let's see if I have any questions. All right, Nelson, hello. Nelson says I'm a new to Walmart, in the process of onboarding and we already established our stores at Amazon. Is the procedures from Amazon to Walmart going to be similar when it comes to brand name products? If we are able to get wholesalers offline in our city to sell as branded products so we can sell online, are we still allowed to sell them? Yes, you are allowed to sell wholesale products on Walmart and I actually met at the Walmart conference quite a few sellers who have done very well selling wholesale products on Walmart. I think it's a lot less competitive right now in Walmart. So I highly recommend you get in there and start going for those, those products and, you know, make sure that you get in the game now? Great question. All right, let's see. Carrie Miller: It looks like I think someone was asking about tools for Walmart. Helium 10 has some incredible tools and I would recommend that you check those out. We have cerebral, which is our keyword research tool for Walmart. Another tool for Walmart called magnet it's another keyword research tool. We have x ray, which shows you sales volumes for Walmart it's our Chrome extension. We also have profits for one, one to help you, Walmart, to help you manage your profits. And we have our ranked tracker. And for pay per click advertising, we have add atomic for Walmart to help you manage your pay per click advertising. So we have all those great tools to help you and support you on your way to selling on Walmart. Carrie Miller: Also, if you're a helium 10 member, we have freedom to get Walmart where we should. We walk you through a to z on how to sell on Walmart, so that's available to you free if you are a helium 10 member. So check it out. If you haven't yet checked it out, alright, so it looks like I don't have any more questions, so hopefully, if that was very helpful, thank you to everyone who submitted their questions. Carrie Miller: For me to answer it was really, you know took a little while to get the answers to some of those questions and maybe some of them. I still need to do a little more research and hopefully maybe digging to get some more details on some of those answers, but hopefully that helps you in the meantime, and if you have any questions, join our group. Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. All you have to really do is search in the Facebook groups Helium 10 Winning with Walmart and you can join our Facebook group and ask questions there. You can tag me, you have questions, or other sellers are in there answering questions as well, so love to see you there and we will see you then. Have a great rest of the day.
Dragon's Lair takes arcades by storm, Commodore rules the computer roost & Video game makers pivot to micros These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in August 1983. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost. Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile device: Android: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/VGNRTM Send comments on Mastodon @videogamenewsroomtimemachine@oldbytes.space Or twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vgnrtm Or videogamenewsroomtimemachine@gmail.com Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Decathlon Video Version: https://www.patreon.com/posts/7-minutes-in-89553431 https://www.mobygames.com/game/11537/the-activision-decathlon/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcHeXlhxeX4 Corrections: July 1983 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/july-1983-87998862 Ethan's fine site The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ https://youtu.be/A-6AKe2pvsQ?si=Y86cYPldukmG2V-H The Video Game Crash 40th Anniversary - Part 1: Atari https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-game-crash-75643983 1973 Atari moves into new facilities https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_5/page/n49/mode/1up?view=theater https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_7/page/47/mode/1up Atari announces new cabinet for Space Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race_(video_game) https://www.old-computers.com/museum/software_detail.asp?id=464 Are pongs slowing down? https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_7/page/48/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_8/page/47/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_8/page/48/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_8/page/47/mode/1up 1983 Dragon's Lair gives arcades hope https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-cruz-sentinel-laserdisc-games-prof/85528743/ https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-observer-dragons-lair-in/86477004/ https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/02/arts/hollywood-playing-harder-at-the-video-game.html Replay August 1983 pg. 10 Replay August 1983, pg. 54 Sega sells manufacturing to Bally https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/28/business/barry-diller-s-latest-starring-role.html https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/30/business/advertisingn-r-kleinfield-computers-take-aim-at-schools.html Bally To Buy Sega's U.S. Coin-Op Game Assets The Associated Press, August 25, 1983, Thursday, AM cycle PR Newswire, August 25, 1983, Thursday PR Newswire, August 11, 1983, Thursday Gregory Fischbach Part 2 - Acclaim https://www.patreon.com/posts/47720122 Coinop returns to its roots Games People August 6, 1983 pg. 1 Off duty cops patrolling arcades Replay August 1983, pg. 81 Mattel lays off 400 in Electronics https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/05/business/mattel-to-lay-off-400-in-electronics-division.html Don Daglow Part 1 - PDP - Mattel - Intellivision - EA https://www.patreon.com/posts/38445119 Amiga buys US Games titles https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-2-5/page/68/mode/1up http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/powerarcade/powerarcade.htm Telesys anounces budget games https://archive.org/details/logical_gamer_aug83/page/5/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/company/4847/telesys/ Mythicon introduces budget 2600 line https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-2-5/page/72/mode/1up?view=theater https://www.mobygames.com/company/4823/mythicon-inc/ Gammation to support Supercharger https://archive.org/details/logical_gamer_aug83/page/5/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/company/11203/gammation/ Game cancellations mount https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-2-5/page/68/mode/1up Milton Bradley sues Atari over voice unit cancellation Electronic Games Hotline August 28, 1983 pg. 1 Suncom brings physical fitness to the VCS Toy and Hobby World July/August 1983 S31 https://picclick.fr/RARE-AEROBICS-JOYSTICK-exercise-bike-385448488962.html http://www.atarihq.com/museum/2678/hardware/aerobics.html Atari moves to TSX With Multiuser Operating System; Atari Resolves PRogrammer/System Dilemma, Computerworld, August 15, 1983 Bring on the celeb endorsements Toy and Hobby World July/August 1983 S11 C64 hits $199 Playthings August 1983 Commodore reigns supreme in the home computer wars... for now https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/01/business/two-standouts-in-electronics.html TI changes the color of the 994A Toy and Hobby World July/August 1983 S7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A 99/2 is dead... https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1983-08_OCR/page/n9/mode/1up https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=267 https://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=268&st=1 Adam price announcements deceptive https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-2-5/page/68/mode/1up Toy and Hobby World July/August 1983 S12 Electronic Games Hotline August 14, 1983 pg. 1 Adam prototypes are no shows https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/01/business/coleco-strong-in-marketing.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Adam Romox to bring software teledelivery to MSX Software Teledelivery is planned, The Japan Economic Journal, August 2, 1983 MSX licensing fees come under fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSX#Manufacturers https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews023-17Aug1983/page/n5/mode/1up JVC brings laser disc games to MSX https://www.msx.org/wiki/Victor_HC-7 JVC To Produce Personal Computer, Copyright 1983 Jiji Press Ltd.Jiji Press Ticker Service AUGUST 31, 1983, WEDNESDAY https://youtu.be/ShDiFJFoXSg?si=UY6QM_kM_i5JABlX Japan moves to protect against software rentals Consent of copyright holders should be won for renting, The Japan Economic Journal, August 2, 1983 Timex reveals TS2000 details https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews021-03Aug1983/page/n3/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews025-31Aug1983/page/n6/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews023-17Aug1983/page/n36/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews025-31Aug1983/page/n43/mode/1up Osborne cuts jobs, closes factory https://vgpavilion.com/mags/1983/08/28egh/pages/19830828egh.pdf IBM announces plans to sell Concurrent CPM https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1983-08_OCR/page/n9/mode/1up Japanese version of CP/M-86 is introduced, The Japan Economic Journal, August 2, 1983 Creative Computing begins publishing price list Commodore sues former employees and Atari over VCS add-on https://www.ataricompendium.com/faq/bagnall_vcs_keyboard.pdf Toy and Hobby World July/August 1983 S7 Commodore announces 70 new software packages https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1983-08_OCR/page/n9/mode/1up Infocom unleashes Z Machine Electronic Games Hotline August 14, 1983 pg. 2 Activision lands on home computers Electronic Games Hotline August 14, 1983 pg. 7 Epyx announces outside studio Toy and Hobby World July/August 1983 S12 Spectrum Games renamed Ocean https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews022-10Aug1983/page/n12/mode/1up Sony teams up with Data East Sony ties up with Data East in MSX software development, The Japan Economic Journal, August 2, 1983 Stellar 7 debuts https://vgpavilion.com/mags/1983/08/28egh/pages/19830828egh.pdf pg. 7 Park Brothers goes big on ads https://vgpavilion.com/mags/1983/08/28egh/pages/19830828egh.pdf pg. 8 Jon Shirley becomes Microsoft prez https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1983-08_OCR/page/n9/mode/1up Games Network hits the stock market https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/24/business/briefs-119250.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://archive.org/details/logical_gamer_aug83/page/6/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews025-31Aug1983/page/n8/mode/1up Softyme tests online distribution https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1983-08_OCR/page/n9/mode/1up BBS's bring out the Pirates Gilded youth, jaded youth , Forbes, August 15, 1983 The "On-Line" Society, Computerworld, August 17, 1983 Microcom licenses MNP https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1983-08_OCR/page/n9/mode/1up Softwareland wants standardized UPCs https://vgpavilion.com/mags/1983/08/28egh/pages/19830828egh.pdf pg. 4 https://books.google.de/books?id=baj-kGvs1L0C&pg=RA1-PA76&lpg=RA1-PA76&dq=%22softwareland%22+retail+store+taylor+coleman&source=bl&ots=QngUR-drNu&sig=ACfU3U1Iz9L7kenfh8SwIYdbRq9IGafJgw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwurn2iaWBAxUd_rsIHXI1CaQQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22softwareland%22%20retail%20store%20taylor%20coleman&f=false UK leads in computer adoption Commodore News Vol1 Num3 1983 Gamer begins to enter the vernacular https://vgpavilion.com/mags/1983/08/28egh/pages/19830828egh.pdf pg. 2 Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/ Games That Weren't - https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/ Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play. Copyright Karl Kuras
From designing eye-catching packaging to crafting a winning pitch, we'll guide you through each step to ensure your product shines on the shelves. Say goodbye to licensing deals and hello to your path to success!Episode 17: A Retail Recap - How to Kill it With Retail Packaging and a Perfect Pitch!Overcoming the Retail Wall:Explore the challenges of breaking into retail and why so many inventors give up prematurely.1. Discover the bite-sized approach to getting your foot in the door with independent retailers.Learn how simple trial and error can lead to quick readiness for retail success.Designing Captivating Packaging:2. Grant shares a step-by-step strategy for designing packaging using a toothpaste brand as an example.From finding inspiration to sizing, artwork, and certifications, learn how to create packaging that stands out.Understand how even novice inventors can excel in packaging design.Crafting the Perfect Sell Sheet:3. Marcus and Steven break down the importance of a concise sell sheet.Explore the elements of a one to three-page document that effectively conveys your product's solution, packaging, and value.Get insights into the steps needed to create an enticing sell sheet that attracts wholesale buyers.Reaching Independent Retailers:4. Develop a simple pitch and target hundreds of independent retailers directly.Understand the advantages of selling to independent retailers, including their flexibility compared to big box stores.Learn how to create irresistible offers that entice retailers to buy and resell your product at a 50% margin.Navigating the Sales Journey:5. Dive into a sales-heavy workload and its impact on those less confident in customer-facing situations.Gain candid advice on hiring a skilled salesperson and strategies for motivating your sales team.6.Organizing with UPCs and Cartons:Explore the importance of organization in retail readiness.Learn how to manage UPCs, cartons, pallets, and product variations efficiently for a smooth entry into retail markets.Conclusion:Inventors, it's time to conquer the world of retail! Tune in to Episode 17 of "Invent with Me" and gain the knowledge and confidence you need to succeed in the competitive retail landscape. Say no to scams and yes to practical pathways to success.Questions? inventpodcast@gmail.comwww.torkstrap.comwww.quicktiedownanchors.com
Cassandra talks about paying the taco truck people, Meredith took Benadryl prior to recording, we talk the difference between SKUs, UPCs and Barcodes and how they are created, dad still has a flip phone, barcode generator and shapes, Aldi barcodes, inventory, the alien RV, AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSANDRA!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
The #regulations for #packaging and labeling of adult use #cannabis are comprehensive. Cannabis producers must abide by state-specific rules on container size, seal integrity, font size, placement of warning labels, and more. It's essential to understand all the relevant regulations to ensure compliance with the law. Larry Levy from Lucid Green. Get in touch with us:
00:00 Merging ASINs & Changing UPCs Tips & Tricks01:23 Attributes didn't match on the duplicated SKU01:46 Manually duplicate SKUs by copying the listing02:18 Duplicate ASIN for FBM and FBA03:18 For changing UPC, click on the copy listing button then fill in the new UPC03:35 Changing the brand name of a legacy ASIN04:16 Unenroll the brand registry for the old brand, file a ticket for the brand name change05:00 Sign in to Amazon Brand Registry click brand registry06:05 Make changes on the backend of brand registry06:27 Ways to unenroll your brand: Step #1 - Do a template upload06:56 Step 2- File a brand registry ticket and make a change in the attribute07:15 Step 3- File a ticket to the troubleshooting catalog team08:21 Changing a brand name is easier than it was before08:47 Fixing the problem of another seller contribution09:41 Dealing with Seller Support11:44 Join Steven Pope every Thursday noon EST for weekly Live Q&A
Are you confused about GTINs and UPCs? Do you want to learn more about how these codes are used in eCom Google Ads campaigns? In this video, our Director of Operations, Leandra, sits down with Shane Morris of GS1 US to explain the importance of GTINs and how they fit into the larger system of standards provided by GS1 US.Shane Morris is the Business Development Director in GS1 US and in this video, he starts by introducing GTINs and discussing their role in identifying products online. He then shares how to get a GTIN code for a new product and the benefits of using GTIN codes in Google Ads.He also talks about the other marketing platforms where GTINs from GS1 US are needed, as well as where you can learn more about GTINs and the GS1 US system.So if you're interested in learning more about GTINs and how they can help your eCom Google Ads campaigns, be sure to watch this video. Thanks for tuning in!Learn more about GS1 US here: https://www.gs1us.orgRelated video: GTIN / UPC codes: The Most Important Thing to Do Before Running Google Ads Smart Shopping: https://youtu.be/Fjw4aje3Oss0:00 Intro0:34 Learn About GTINs for Google Ads With Shane Morris of GS1 US7:41 How to get a GTIN code for a new product12:12 Key benefit of the GTIN code in Google Ads15:45 Two most common GTIN types17:41 Work with the best Google Ads agency on the planet20:47 Other marketing platforms where GTINs from GS1 US are needed24:20 Where to learn more about GTINs and GS1 USDo you have a burning question about Google Ads that you're dying to ask our Google Ads expert?
To create a product listing on Amazon, you must have a unique product identifier known as a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number).GTINs make your products easy to find, buy, trace, and fulfill by providing a standardized digital language to communicate seamlessly across the supply chain. Think of them like fingerprints for your products that gives retailers, marketplaces, and consumers confidence that they can trace products to their owners.GTINs and UPC codes help standardize product identification for recalls, brand protection, and consumer safety and protect against bad actors.Previously, sellers could obtain these numbers from many places, but the valid numbers are issued directly by GS1 and licensed to brand owners. Amazon considers GTINs obtained from elsewhere invalid, which means you cant list your product.GS1 runs a database that is the single source of truth for licensed GTINs and the legal entities associated with them. Amazon will often check the database for the validity of GTINs/UPC codes provided for a listing.But many Amazon sellers have a problem differentiating between a GTIN, a UPC code, EAN, and a barcode. They are often used interchangeably, but there is a small difference.In this episode, Jason and Shannon interview Michelle Covey of GS1 US about the importance of GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers), UPC Codes, EAN, and Amazon. We also discuss some of the recent changes Amazon has made regarding UPC use, as well as hijacked UPCs and the right way to purchase a GS1 Prefix License.Key Takeaways- How GS1 all started (01:27)- GTIN vs. UPC vs. EAN codes (06:23)- Best practices for getting GTINs from GS1 (12:27)- Minimum number of GTINs you can buy (15:05)- Common mistakes sellers make inputting UPC codes on Amazon (22:48)- GTIN hijacking scenario on Amazon (24:11)- How to get Amazon to allow updates of UPC codes on a listing (27:05)- Transferring GTIN prefix ownership at GS1 (30:11)- Laying the foundation for success on Amazon (33:35)- Amazon errors messages related to UPC/GTINs (39:26)- What's coming up for unique identifiers in 2023 (42:09)Additional Resources:✅GS1 US: https://www.gs1us.org/ ✅GEPIR: https://www.gs1us.org/tools/gs1-company-database-gepir ✅Get Started: https://www.gs1us.org/upcs-barcodes-prefixes/how-to-get-a-upc-barcode GS1 US SOCIAL Pages ✅https://www.linkedin.com/company/gs1-us/ ✅https://www.facebook.com/GS1US ✅https://www.youtube.com/user/GS1US----- 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!
Forde Aley is the Co-Founder of Shining Way Sourcing, an agency that has sourced manufacturing for over 1,000 products, with both founders having over 25 years of experience in the space. Today Forde is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can source their first manufacturer for their new hardware invention idea overseas, how to ensure quality control for that production, and why it is important to consider how that factory can scale as you grow into larger sales over time. Today you will hear us talk about: Choosing a factory. How to find the right factory. 3 key things for sourcing: Choosing a factory, quality control, and retail ready-to-scale. Find out how the factory is managed, who the players are, and how it operates as a management team. This is overlooked but very important to know. Ensure you or your factory sourcing agent has visited the factory and the factory management team. Quality control processes must ensure the output product matches all required criteria. Standard operating procedures manual of a factory. Retail logistics. Packaging, UPCs, pallets, import, export. Factory selection. The sourcing company's in-house team. Both local and offshore. Experience. Make sure 10 years or more, the more experience, the more factories the team will have worked with and knowledge of. Why sourcing agents/sourcing companies are important to new consumer product startups and inventors. EPISODE LINKS: Forde Aley Links: LinkedIn | Shining Way Sourcing The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube PTC Links: https://www.ptc.com/ OnShape | Creo Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter Partner: PTC's best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality. Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Join Jim McRitchie, proxy advisor John Glenn Grau and activist investor Michael Levin to discuss ESG via UPC:How can those concerned with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues use new universal proxy card (UPC) rules to run proxy contests? Could electing an ESG director have more impact than winning a dozen shareholder proposals? We use Amazon.com as a potential example.Universal ProxyIn November 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued final regulations requiring companies to use the Universal Proxy Card (UPC), in all contested board of directors elections, or proxy contests. UPC is one of the most significant rules affecting activist investors and proxy contests in decades. It potentially lowers the potential cost of a proxy contest materially, and changes dramatically the strategy and tactics in planning and executing a proxy contest.UPCs will change how activist investors solicit proxies for director elections and likely lead to both more proxy contests and more activist directors. Activist investors will need to decide how to comply with some specific rules about how many proxies to solicit, and how much they wish to streamline the solicitation process by relying on the company UPC.
In this episode of the Ecwid Ecommerce Show, we meet with Shane Morris and Megan Baumer from GS1 US. GS1 US is the official issuer and administrator of the UPC barcode, which is the cornerstone of the global supply chain. Listen to our podcast to learn more about barcodes and the differences between product identifiers such as UPC and GTIN. You'll learn how these identifiers help with inventory management and contribute to expanding your online business. Understanding barcodes The Universal Product Code, or UPC, is a barcode symbology used worldwide to track trade items in stores. A Global Trade Item Number, or GTIN, is the number below a barcode. GTINs and UPCs are often used interchangeably, but they are different. The UPC is the barcode that carries and identifies the Global Trade Item Number. Key benefits of GTIN for online sellers GTIN bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds. They can be used to boost search engine optimization, prove a brand's authenticity online, and be used to create unified analytics across multiple channels. Shane Morris highlights four key benefits in the ecommerce space where the GTIN serves a purpose: Improved SEO Assigning GTINs to your products when listing on Google Shopping or your website can significantly improve search results, impressions, and conversions. Better logistics process You will likely need to use third-party logistics providers as you expand your business to get help with managing the supply chain. These partners will want a way to identify your products. Providing them with GTINs prevents disorganization when you have a huge inventory. Verifying a business on online marketplaces Marketplaces want to ensure that their customers only interact with legitimate brands selling legitimate products. There are standards in place to ensure that legitimacy—one of these is the GTIN. Essential for omnichannel strategy Most businesses want to be everywhere their customers are. Having a GS1 GTIN for your products will open up countless doors to the numerous retailers and marketplaces that require them. Getting GTINs for your products To get GTINs for your products, visit the GS websites: If you sell in US: https://www.gs1us.org/ If you are a non-US brand: https://www.gs1.org/ Also, check out the following resources that Shane and Megan mention in the episode: GS1 Company Database: https://www.gs1us.org/tools/gs1-company-database-gepir Barcode Estimator: https://www.gs1us.org/tools/barcode-estimator/home The Next Level Supply Chain with GS1 US podcast: https://next-level-supply-chain-with-gs1us.podcastpage.io/ Ecwid Podcast on Ecwid: www.ecwid.com/blog/podcast Ecwid Social Social Profiles: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ecwid Instagram: www.instagram.com/ecwid/ Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/EcwidTeam Twitter: twitter.com/ecwid Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/ecwid/ TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@ecwid Jesse Ness Social Profiles: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jesseness/ Richard “RichE” Otey Social Profiles: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/richardotey/ Twitter: twitter.com/RichardOtey
Join us for this episode of Riverbend Consulting's Amazon seller Happy Hour, where Lesley Hensell will sit down with Shane Morris and Megan Baumer of GS1 US! They'll be discussing the role of product identification in eCommerce and the key aspects that Amazon sellers should be aware of when it comes to GTINs, UPCs, and barcodes. If you've got a growing inventory you're trying to manage, then you'll definitely want to watch this live event!This event will be streaming live at 6 pm EDT on Wednesday, August 24th, so mark it on your calendar and join us for it!Visit our website: https://riverbendconsulting.com/Find us on:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riverbendco...Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverbendCon...Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiverbendConsulLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rive...
How to Send a GTIN Certificate to Seller Support00:00 Introduction00:09 How to load GS1 Certificate to Amazon00:13 Dealing with UPCs has been very difficult because Amazon has been trying to crack down on fake products and fake ASINs.00:36 Get GTIN certificate from the GS1 website; Amazon requires it to verify that our product ID is affiliated with our brand.01:13 There is nothing harder to do on Amazon Catalog work than changing UPC codes.01:47 Go inside Seller Central and create a case by going to “Help”02:15 Once inside Help; hit Get support; then Selling on Amazon 02:20 Write your issue on the box and attach the GTIN certificate and then send it.03:17 Takes about 2 or 3 days before you'll get a response from the Seller Support04:01 Having a GS1 Certificate helps you prevent rogue ASINs but will not prevent hijackers and unauthorized sellers.05:25 Get help with loading your GS1 Certificate and visit My Amazon Guy and schedule coaching calls.
News, Analysts, Breakdowns, and Personal thoughts, come join in the fun discussing it all with us. Check us out on the following: Twitter: https://twitter.com/addicts_podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cardboard_addicts_podcast Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cardboardaddictspodcast
RampCo is an illustrative case based on my client's work. It explores how a brand launched as a multi-category platform can immediately find its hero UPCs and pivot toward them. The result is a more focused, much faster grower brand consumers now see as a true category expert. And consumers want new brands to be category specialists. Leave the platform innovation for store label brands. They can pull it off because they own the points the distribution and don't care how slowly 800 UPCs move. It's their shelves! Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.comPlease send feedback on this or other episodes to: admin@premiumgrowthsolutions.com
Today on the Gym Leaders Podcast, we discuss all of the Sword & Shield Era Ultra Premium Collection boxes and which we feel are the best investment options for your sealed collection. We also discuss the soaring prices on single cards from the latest set Lost Origin, over looked Pokémon of the SWSH era, and everyone's favorite rock/ground type Golem. Prices Soaring! What to Choose When Investing in Pokémon UPCs.
Barcodes, GS1 & GTIN exemptions are complicated topics, especially with the conversation constantly being muddled with bad information from online forums. In this Episode Chris & Leah take a deep dive into this convoluted subject, explaining what you need to do if your GS1 UPCs are flagged by Amazon.
There is one place you need to make sure that you buy your UPC if you want to sell on Amazon, and that is GS1. In this episode, we will go through what GS1 is, the basics of UPCs and barcodes, and how to avoid potential issues with your GTINs on Amazon. GS1 has recently revamped its pricing so that GS1 barcodes are less expensive for smaller sellers with less than ten products. Links Mentioned:GS1 WebsiteGS1 Barcode estimatorGS1 YouTube pageCyndi Thomason - Bookskeep.comRobyn Johnson - Marketplaceblueprint.comJump To:02:00 How has the pandemic affected the number and type of businesses purchasing UPCs?03:28 What is a GTIN (Global Trade Identifying Number), and is that number universal only in the US or globally?05:39 Why can't I just buy discounted UPCs from eBay since they are so much less expensive?08:08 How do the prefixes work on Amazon so people can understand why Amazon sometimes kicks back errors when listing with some GS1 GTINs?11:03 Why are the prices for GTINs so much more expensive on GS1 than eBay's recycled codes?14:38 How can the products from GS1 help you with shipping and carton labels? 15:00 What is GS1's data hub, and how can it help you better keep track of your GTINs?17:09 What is the thing new companies should know before they purchase their UPCs?18:39 If you have many product variations, how many GTINs do I need to purchase?21:00 What about GTINs exceptions on Amazon, does that impact how many GTINs I need to purchase?22:48 Now that GS1 has allowed for individual barcode purchases, what trends have you seen around UPC purchases over the last few years?25:00 What is the difference between an EIN versus UPC GTIN?26:30 What do you need to know about what name to register with GS1?27:51 What is GTIN hijacking, and how can it cause an error for my GS1 purchased barcode?
This week we have the founder of Triple Crown Records Fred Feldman on for a very special 20th episode discussing Cro-Mags legendary debut The Age of Quarrel. We talk about Indie Week's patient zero, Fred's last interview, pizzaiolos, Rick Ta Life, squat living, friend of the pod John Varvatos, the Mushmouth 7", how The Secret Handshake shaped Dan's entire future, beards and baseball hats, clearing up who Into It. Over It. is singing about, Foxing worship, raising the bar, wedding band Converge covers, Death Spells, Brand New in a small room, Harley's poetry book forward by Allen Ginsberg, Downtown Brooklyn chat, Mr. Beet, Age of Quarrel vs. Best Wishes, Krishnacore, John Joseph the hat salesman, evil UPCs, litmus test records, dry recordings, Promise Ring foam finger, and pizza chat. // Follow us at @danbassini, @mysprocalledlife, @triplecrownrec and @runintotheground. Listen to our RITG Mixtape Vol. 5 here and our Best of RITG Vol. 2 playlist here.
Write your questions as a comment to this video. Join the channel today at https://www.youtube.com/myamazonguy.Read nearly 100 testimonials about My Amazon Guy at https://myamazonguy.com/testimonials/Watch the most popular Amazon Tutorial playlists at https://myamazonguy.com/amazon-seller-fba-tutorials-guides-videos/00:00 Amazon FBA Weekly Q&A10:28 My Amazon Guy Team will be on PROSPER 202211:25 After I hit $10K in sales, when should I provide AMZ w/ the insurance policy?12:15 How do you think the global events would affect e-Commerce?13:51 Is it OK to include a few misspelled words in the bidding for PPC?14:47 ASIN REVIEW: B098DD7W6V19:49 I changed the packaging of my listing to move it from the large to small standard. Should I let the old one run out, sned in the new one, then ticket for re-measurement?22:54 I called AMZ to change the brand of my ASIN and just like that, they did.23:59 AMZ only allows GS1 UPC codes for new pages (not my brand). I don't know if the brand is using GS1 UPCs, can I but 1-time GS1 UPCs or it must be under the same GS1 account as all UPCs of this brand?27:51 Just launched 2 days ago. ACOS is 300% and runs out of budget like 12PM almost no sales.29:44 Can you advice how can we re-rank after out of stock?32:39 I set up A+ 5 days ago for 2 ASINs. The A+ is still under review for both, whereas I set up A+ for another ASIN yesterday and it was approved w/in literally 1 minute. 33:31 ASIN REVIEW: B098XYC7BK43:48 I have a listing w/c was changed all infor by a listing hijacker. I got everything changed back my brand but the title they don't want to change. 46:35 What's your advice on creating phrase campaigns? Bidding strategy (dynamic, fixed bids, etc). Budget compared to auto and broad. How many KW/campaigns, etc.47:51 Once an ASIN gets fully optimized A+ content for the first time, the A+ content is up and running. How long will it take for the SEO boost to happen? Ranking, more KWs indexed, etc.49:12 I did a full delete and full update and the title is still not changed, any other idea?51:14 Is AMZ eventually going to a max of 80 characters per title to maximize for mobile in all categories?54:51 I have noticed a major decline in sales thus far in March, compared to Feb. Have you experienced this? Is this happening acreoss AMZ due to geopolitical issues?56:09 What do you think of AMZ charging higher fees to Chinese sellers to even the playing field in the AMZ USA marketplace?57:56 Thoughts on Ad softwares perputua and quartile benefits and pros you have seen from clients?58:41 Also think AMZ should have a way to detect when competitors are clicking on your ASIN to killl your Advertising daily budget.1:01:00 Does brand story Alt text and copy index & impact SEO? I made it to a point to get important KW in my brand story and in the Alt text. Also should Alt text be important exact match KW? Or solo words?Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/myamazonguy)
It's no surprise that consumers are relying on e-commerce – sometimes exclusively. So businesses have no choice but to adapt to keep up. When selling products online, acronyms like GTIN, U.P.C., and EAN can sound overwhelming and confusing, but they don't have to be. Michelle Covey, VP of Partnerships at GS1 US, joins us to discuss what these acronyms mean, why they're important when selling online, and how something like a GTIN can help you take your e-commerce business to the next level.
00:00 Intro11:22 A+ content is down12:01 My own Walmart account was suspended12:37 Did you guys see my rant12:59 Amazon Aggregators: Boosted13:46 One of our clients, Casely - Voted as No.17 Fastest Growing Company14:39 Restock Limits - FBA has caught up17:27 My Amazon Guy is hiring18:25 Would a good time raise price a few days prior to black Friday - the leave it raised till the New Year19:27 Launched our 14th product a month ago. Enrolled in Vine but 0 claims. Zero views on product heavy ad cost. The product will flop w/o at least 1 positive review21:23 Testimonial: We used MAG a year ago to help w/ a seller support nightmare. Your team resolved the problem in 72hours. Worth every penny. Thanks21:35 What do you think about having one campaign w/ the same KW w/ Up & Down and another that is Down only22:55 Been changing my pics. Can you please take a look and assess the order and relevance. ASIN: B09B4RSDMD27:46 Where do you see in 3-5 years from now, AMZ 3rd party sellers be? Do you think it'll explode, or be much harder to sell31:22 In the Brand Catalog Manager, we are listed in Office ProductsB09G4LSGQN, STUDIO ELEVE22, Office Products but in the Regular Catalog of AMZ we are in Arts Crafts & Sewing34:03 In Ads Manager, how do you delete portfolios34:53 For the verbiage in A+ content, do you have to use exact phrases, or just a word salad, to index35:50 Any recommendations for product insurance36:35 What happens if you just straight up put in KWs or phrases in your A+ content and not even make them into cogent sentences38:10 We are brand registered, have access to A+ but the brand baseboard section w/ analytics is missing39:05 How did you grow and gain clients when you started your agency44:11 Not seeing the new brand catalog manager like your recent video showed, do we need to ticket for access44:28 Even if we have a lot of stock in AMZ FBA, do you suggest doing MF also till the new year45:04 We can't connect/link our seller central to our brand registry45:30 Given that AMZ recognizes plurals, is there any benefit to putting both words in your title or listing if each word has a high search volume46:46 Other than Helium10, where do you go for product ideas48:22 All the components of my product come from the US and CA. That being the case, do you still think ordering a year supply of inventory is necessary48:55 Can you explain the AMZ vs Walmart graph49:20 How do I set up to make sure the returned products are not going back to the inventory again50:29 If AMZ lose my inventory, how do they decide on how much to reimburse50:54 ASIN review: B082XGW8CJ52:14 Do video ads usually have the highest ROAS for you52:36 Do you have any supplement clients? If yes, what is their ad spend54:32 Our DE account was suspended because we haven't successfully registered VAT number this July, and our US account was related to DE account and got suspended too55:04 I can't add videos to my listings in France1:01:06 What is a normal return rate for hair tool products like hair dryers or curling irons1:01:30 I have my UPC in my logo on my product, can I send in inventory just like that or do I have to sticker it w/ the FNSKU1:01:56 Who should I call to set up full service? Do your team handle the A+ photos and content if I send you products1:02:35 Do I need my own personal documents ready such as a passport or bank statement for AMZ when opening multiple Seller Central Accounts w/ multiple LLCs in Wyoming1:03:14 How do I get in touch w/ your company? And are you AMZ approved1:04:04 I can't load up UPCs in our EU account because our UPCs are shared by both our EU and US accountsSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/myamazonguy)
ComixLaunch: Crowdfunding for Writers, Artists & Self-Publishers on Kickstarter... and Beyond!
Learn everything comic creator crowdfunders need to know about barcodes for their comics and graphic novels!
00:00 Intro10:31 My Amazon Guy Process11:13 My Amazon Guy Core Values12:32 For a new client's product w/ over 1000 organic KW, do you automatically go to phase 2 or go through phase 1 anyway? What factors would cause you to jump to phase 2 right away15:00 A 48hr episode but my Amazon account manager has vanished. What steps do you take to get ASINs created by regular SC for a product w/o UPCs o EANs to sidestep unnecessary pushback16:43 Ad campaign has $200 budget with 10 KW (5 performers, 5 poor) What is the difference between moving the good words to their own campaign vs just lowering the bid on the poor performers17:45 Amazon invited me to the Amazon Launchpad program. Is it worth the money (5% of rev)19:48 My inventory restriction is getting worse (restocking limit is decreasing) any insights on the future state of restocking limits20:47 For misspellings, in Helium10, Cerebro found words like Chistma but on misspellinator, this doesn't even show as a top misspelling and lists others. What tool do you use to determine misspellings21:47 When creating a listing w/ variations (2 colors), do I edit each ASIN w/ different KW, descriptions, or just the main parent ASIN?22:38 What are the key factors Amazon uses to rank a listing organically24:58 Do we always need to run PPC to keep organic ranking26:02 Does Amazon change PPC bids during different time slots based on search volume26:17 Is having your friends vote the helpful button considered review manipulation26:54 Best marketplaces aside from the NA ones to sell in27:43 Do you have an answer key that you can plug on the 200 words to avoid pesticides28:12 If I sell a brand item and bundle it w/ something else or my brand item, should I use a new UPC code and who do I put a brand/manufacturer on the listing30:12 Best tips for product research31:35 I got 2 new reviews today but my total review count only went up by one32:22 I know I can't put brand names in backend search items or Alt text, but what about book titles. I've seen many of my competitors do this. Is this w/in Amazon TOS33:10 I just wanted to know if most of you have your parcels shrieked wrapped33:33 To structure the title, would you recommend one of the following characters "-" or "|"33:52 Editorial reviews overrated34:14 We have a top product in our category and it has 6 variations. We want to split the listing into 2, how would we do this? Would the 2nd listing have a good ranking like the 1st35:27 How do I stop Amazon bots from taking text from my listing images and auto-populating listing features incorrectly37:00 I use my brand name on Amazon CA and USA all caps, is it better to trademark it as all caps or in the proper case37:42 You have said that PPC is rather far down on the list in the A9 algorithm of ranking, however, it seems to be your main go-to to gain rank38:30 Can you elaborate how the PPC can push you higher in ranking w/o breaking the bank39:14 What is the process of changing to the new brand, how do I tackle it40:24 I can no longer get the first name, last name, address from my customers in Amazon anymore. I used to be able to do that and run ads on Facebook for them42:41 Have 13 products for Amazon. Since I am a new seller, how many of each product should I have available for shipping to Amazon? Will I be limited to 200 total or 200 per product listing44:32 I'm about to launch 3 SKUs and coming out the gate w/ a heavy restocking limit for the current SKU. What are your counsel and wisdom on product launches in this world45:13 My bullet points just randomly disappeared on my listing45:56 When sending a softcover book to FBA, do you recommend some form of prep for protection? Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/myamazonguy)
On today's Amazon-themed episode of StartupNation Radio, Jeff is joined by co-host Matt Damman and talks to Derek Gaskins of Aleva Stores and Retail Bloom and Michelle Covey of GS1.Tune in to the full StartupNation Radio show with Damman, Gaskins and Covey to learn more about how to be successful on Amazon.Gaskins is the president and founder of Aleva Stores, a retailer with a focus in medical supplies that assists brands in finding their way through e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon. He is also the chairman and co-founder of Retail Bloom, a service provider that helps businesses improve sales production in e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon.During the interview, Gaskins discusses:How he started from eBayHow to run your business primarily through AmazonWhy you need to approach Amazon with a differentiation in strategy or productHow Retail Bloom can help your small business thrive in e-commerce marketplacesHow Aleva Stores worksFor more information about Aleva Stores, visit the official website, and follow on Facebook and LinkedIn. For more information about Retail Bloom, visit the official website, and follow on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.Next is Covey, the vice president of retail apparel and general merchandise of GS1, an organization that develops business communication standards and gave birth to the barcode.During the interview, Covey talks about:How barcodes work/are generatedThe different barcode options for your businessWhy you shouldn't turn universal product codes (UPCs) on until they go to marketAmazon's initiatives on preventing counterfeit UPCsWhy UPCs are the key to online searchingFor more information about GS1, visit the official website.
I have been talking about brand registry on Amazon for some time now; OK, it's been over two years. I am going to say I told you so, but also follow that up with a hug. I have been branded on Amazon since 2015. I genuinely believe it helps protect your account, brand, and everything else as an Amazon seller. I know some of you will be thinking, ‘I don't want a brand; I don't want to sign up for that.' So, let's talk about what having a brand registry means and why it's important to you, especially if you use Amazon bundles as part of your business model. It's not something you need to be scared of... but it's something you should be aware of. Today, I talk about the current issues many of you are having when trying to list bundles with your GTIN exemptions. I explain what is happening regarding the brand registry on Amazon right now and what we can expect to become part of their policy. I explore the differences between brand approval and brand registry and what Amazon is currently accepting for you to be considered brand registered. I share why these brand registry requirements are great for your business and how you can create your brand bundles. I also share some good news coming from GS1 about UPCs as well as some great resources you can use for affordable custom packaging. “What Amazon wants to verify is that you're a legitimate brand; and legitimate brands usually have trademarks and custom packaging.” - Kristin Ostrander This week on the Amazon Files: Current issues with listing bundles on Amazon if you have a GTIN exemption What is happening right now on Amazon regarding brand registry The difference between brand approval and brand registry What Amazon is currently accepting for you to become brand registered Why Amazon has these brand registry requirements in place, and how that helps you What a bundle brand is and how you can create your own Good news about UPCs from GS1 Resources for affordable custom packaging Related Content: Wholesale Bundle System Guide to Trademarks with Ben Becker 2021 Confident Wholesale Bundler's Workshop Resources Mentioned: Royal Trademark Law Sticker Mule Pack Lane Packola Custom Boxes Now Grow Your Amazon Business! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon seller along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show and leave us your honest review. Don't forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the codeword #Branding to join us on Facebook. Each week, Kristin hosts a live discussion on how to grow your Amazon business. Don't forget to check out our website and subscribe to our mailing list for even more resources.
Maruo and Rob dig discuss the new Silver Age and read through the Wonder Woman: 80th Anniversary Promos being offered to folks who send in 20 UPCs. Tune in and start clixin' @CasualClixin @AfterDragons_ AfterDragons.com
✅ Check if your products have problems at this link: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/fixyourproductsApril 8, 2021Reminder: Provide product IDs (GTINs) for listingsFor most product categories, you are required to provide a unique product identifier, known as a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) such as UPC and EAN, to create new listings. GTINs are considered invalid if they are not GS1 vended or not recognized by the brand owner. To check for products with invalid GTINs, you need to visit Fix your product and provide the requested information immediately or your listings will be removed.To fix the ASINs, use Contact us to submit a letter of authorization or a licensing agreement that meets the following criteria:Includes the name and address of the brand's rights ownerLegible: it is not too blurry and not too light or darkIncludes the manufacturer name and contact informationIncludes the seller’s legal business name or the seller name that corresponds to your Account information page in Seller CentralIncludes the seller’s physical addressMust be in EnglishIncludes a GS1 certificateNote: We recommend that you obtain your GTINs directly from GS1 (and not from other third parties selling GTIN licenses) to ensure that the appropriate information is reflected in the GS1 database. For more information on licensing EANs or UPCs from GS1, refer to the GS1 website.Products that are listed in the At risk listings section in the Fix your product page will be removed if the requested information is not provided by the due date. Products that are listed in the Inactive listings section will remain inactive unless the requested information is provided.Contact Selling Partner Support or visit the Listing requirements: Product IDs (GTINs) Help page if you have concerns about your ASINs.✅ Order a Trademark from My Amazon Guy for $775 and get your brand registry on Amazon in under 7 days. Order here: https://myamazonguy.com/trademark-services/✅ A+ Enhanced Brand Content https://myamazonguy.com/amazon-enhanced-brand-a-plus-content/✅ Begginer Tutorial Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDkvNlz8yl_bC5ERcdJm9mu_MLSTyl3e_✅ Coaching on Demand (Same day Appointments Available): https://myamazonguy.com/book-a-coaching-call/#GTIN #UPC #GS1 #amazonseller #amazonfba #myamazonguy
How to Pitch Products to Major Retailers Plus Surviving the Impacts of the Pandemic How did the pandemic transform your business's operations and sales efforts? We have to admit that even with the many challenges we faced during the pandemic, many businesses have adapted through the adversity to become even better in their operations. In this episode of Page One Podcast, Luke Peters speaks with Matt Damman about the positive and the negative impacts of the pandemic on the newly transformed Commando Lock. Matt is the CEO of Commando Lock company in Michigan, a growing manufacture of military-grade padlocks and security systems, and an entrepreneur. Listen in to learn how the increase in the cost of raw materials and challenges with labor is affecting production processes. You will also learn the different ways you can pitch your product to major retailers. Key Takeaways: How to successfully pitch your products to different retailers The impact of the raw materials like brass and steel cost increase The uncertainty in sales performance for most businesses caused by the current world inflation How challenging times force you to refine your product and become more efficient in what you do Episode Timeline: [2:10] Matt describes what they do at Commando Lock, which is manufacturing military-grade locks. [3:57] He talks about the delays and sales growth they experienced during the pandemic. [6:40] The big companies they have been able to pitch to over the last several months. [9:14] He explains how to pitch products to major retailers through cold calling and presentation. [14:19] How their sales have been performing on different platforms plus how they were shut down on Google. [20:36] The raw materials cost increase and labor challenges that Commando Lock has experienced since the pandemic. [27:31] Why Commando Lock is highly contemplating cost increases to cover the production cost. [29:55] Matt explains their funding through credit and private investors to keep them afloat. [32:37] How they've been forced by the pandemic to become more efficient in manufacturing. [35:14] Matt explains their plans of getting into Home Depot and not taking out the competition. Quotes: “Our products were well packaged. Retail quality packaging. We had UPCs. We were able to walk in and say that we were EDI compliant.”
Today we will take questions about bar codes and UPCs with a GS1 representative Michelle Covey, who is the GS1 Amazon expert and VP of Partnerships.Watch this video from Steven on FBA bar code rules: https://youtu.be/RqguD0PX0zoGS1 US has expanded its product identification offering for small and micro businesses with the introduction of a single GS1 US Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). Ideal for businesses that are launching a new product, the new single identifier will provide a low-cost option to uniquely identify products and streamline the process for getting items ready for sale across retail and e-commerce channels.A GTIN is the unique product identifier encoded into a U.P.C. barcode that is widely accepted by most retail systems. With a one-time cost of $30, a business can create a single GTIN, manage related product data and share the information with trading partners using GS1 US Data Hub | Product. Additionally, a business that licenses an individual GTIN will automatically be included in the GS1 Global Registry, a database that many retailers and online marketplaces use to verify product identification and confirm product authenticity.The single GTIN offering was created to support the needs of U.S.-based small businesses that are increasingly using e-commerce to sell their products as consumer purchasing activity rapidly shifts online. According to a recent Amazon study, American small businesses sold more than 3.4 billion products through the online marketplace in the past year, up from 2.7 billion the previous year. Additional research underscores the importance of having U.P.C.s and GTINs in online product listings. A GS1 US study revealed in 2019 that the majority of growing small businesses (54%) said that using U.P.C.s in their product listings made it easier for customers to find and buy their products.“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen an uptick in the number of small businesses needing to identify their products to sell online,” said Bob Carpenter, president and CEO, GS1 US. “We want to support these small brands on their journey and provide them with an authentic GTIN that will not only be accepted by a variety of retailers and online marketplaces globally, but also make it easier for consumers to find and buy their products.”Since requirements can vary by retailer, small businesses should consult seller guidelines to understand which GS1 identification standards are needed to support electronic data exchange, shipping and other purposes. To help small businesses make informed product identification decisions, GS1 US has created an estimator tool and other resources to support their growth. Please visit www.gs1us.org/upcs-barcodes-prefixes/get-a-barcode for more information.About GS1 US GS1 US®, a member of GS1 global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. Nearly 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading partner collaboration that optimizes their supply chains, drives cost performance and revenue growth, while also enabling regulatory compliance. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code (EPC®)-based RFID, data synchronization and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®). For more information, visit www.gs1us.org.https://www.gs1us.org/details-page/articleid/2029/gs1-us-expands-offering-to-help-small-businesses-capitalize-on-e-commerce-opportunitiesSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/myamazonguy)
Welcome back to the Happy Half Hour! This week, we chat with Starr Edwards, founder of Bitchin’ Sauce, a popular almond dip that is vegan-friendly. You may have it seen at local farmers’ markets (and mistaken it for hummus) or at the grocery store. The company started in Carlsbad and is still headquartered there, but has increased distribution to nearly 7,000 stores nationwide, including Costco, Target, and Whole Foods. In episode 210, William Bradley, executive chef at Michelin-starred restaurant Addison, said that Bitchin’s chipotle flavor is one of his favorite things to eat. Starr explained that the almond dip started with three flavors and is now available in 13; she highly recommends trying it as a sauce on fish tacos. Starr moved to San Diego from Oregon with her family when she was 15, and her parents were hippies—there were always ingredients like Bragg’s liquid aminos and almonds in the kitchen, at a time when they weren’t mainstream. She graduated high school early; at 16 she started working at a mortgage company and took night classes at a local college—that same year she came up with the recipe for Bitchin’ Sauce. Years later, when Starr met her husband, musician L. A. Edwards, got married, and had their first child, Skip, she went into business as a personal chef and promoted it with a stand at a local farmers’ market. She used Bitchin’ Sauce to attract visitors to the stand—and the sauce became so popular she decided to rethink her business plan. She says with just $200 and a blender, she started making more of it to sell at the farmers’ markets, and the company grew to the point where she needed to secure a commercial kitchen. A buyer for Costco discovered the brand, which opened the door for national distribution. Starr says ramping up production for Bitchin’ Sauce to this level meant she had to figure out a new world of regulations for packaging, labeling, and UPCs, and she credits local stores Cardiff Seaside Market and Cream of the Crop for helping her. We also learned who inspired the logo, how she grew the company to nearly 80 employees, and most importantly, how she came up with the name—listen to find out! To this day, the company hasn’t received any outside funding, and during the pandemic, they launched a music label and a charity. They even have the Bitchin’ Beach Club at Carlsbad Lagoon. The company doesn’t ship their sauce directly, but it’s available through Amazon Fresh. In Hot Plates, we talked about Governor Newsom lifting the regional stay-home order and returning all counties in California to the colored tier system, allowing for outdoor dining at restaurants. Puesto, which temporarily had to close all of their restaurants last week and furlough a majority of their staff, announced their plans to reopen soon. More details are in about celebrity chef Richard Blais’s new restaurant, Ember & Rye, that will open at the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad. We end on some good news: A new Italian restaurant, Allegro, will open in Little Italy, where Indigo Grill had been for more than 20 years before closing last year. In Two People for Takeout / Two People for $50, Starr’s pick is Sushi Ota in Mission Bay, which was also the Readers’ Choice in our 2020 Best Restaurants feature. Troy’s pick is the Vaquero hot dog from Barrio Dogg in Barrio Logan, and David likes the cold vegetable sandwich from Clem’s Bottle House in Kensington. My pick is the chicken-fried steak biscuit at Sonnyboy Biscuit Co. in University Heights. Thank you for listening and starting the new year with us! As always, we want to hear from our listeners. Do you have a question for Troy? Need a recommendation for takeout? Is there a guest you want us to book on the show? Let us know! You can call us at 619-744-0535 and leave a voicemail, or if you’re too shy, you can email us at happyhalfhour@sdmag.com. See you next week!
Michelle Covey is the Vice President of Partnerships at GS1 US, a company that improves supply chain visibility and efficiency through GS1 Standards. GS1 US is also responsible for issuing Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) and Universal Product Codes (UPCs) to brands. In her role at GS1 US, Michelle manages external partner relationships and programs designed to support efficient and accurate GS1 Standards implementation. Prior to joining GS1 US, Michelle worked as a Project Manager for both GXS and Inovis, where she handled operational efficiency and strategy roadmap initiatives. Michelle has a proven track record in product analysis, market launch, leadership, and more in the services and software industries. In this episode… Why are UPCs and GTINs so important for Amazon sellers? According to Michelle Covey of GS1 US, not only do these codes help brands ensure compliance with Amazon's ever-changing policies, but they also help customers accurately identify an online product's information. Because of this, UPCs and GTINs are essential for providing a valuable customer experience on Amazon and other e-commerce platforms. However, in order to reap their benefits, it is important that sellers obtain these codes from the right source. Buying a UPC or GTIN from eBay or other third-party sellers could result in stolen, recycled, or fraudulent codes. As Michelle says, the best way to avoid any negative impacts to your product listings is to seek help from GS1 US. Michelle Covey, the Vice President of Partnerships at GS1 US, joins James Thomson in this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to talk about the ins and outs of Universal Product Codes (UPCs) and Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) on Amazon. They discuss the benefits of obtaining these codes as a private label seller, how GS1 US works to remove hijacked UPC codes, and Michelle's thoughts on the future of innovation and standardization on Amazon. Stay tuned.
Season Six kicks off with another rapid fire Q&A episode! Tune in to hear me answer questions submitted directly from my community of food & beverage business owners, around the topics of: How do I ensure my promotions are passed along to the shopper? Do I really need UPCs for my food business? What's the difference between a broker & a distributor, and how do I know which one I need? When should I offer guaranteed sales? How often should I follow up with Grocery Buyers? This show is jam-packed with advice for emerging food brands, so tune in. Find the full show notes and all of the resources, discount codes, and extra content by clicking here. Finally, don't forget to grab my Retail Roadmap! It's more important than ever to know what it takes to get ON the retail shelf - be it a physical or digital shelf -, and have high sales once you're there. Find my free, nine-step guide to building a brand that flies off the shelf by clicking here.
Season Six kicks off with another rapid fire Q&A episode! Tune in to hear me answer questions submitted directly from my community of food & beverage business owners, around the topics of: How do I ensure my promotions are passed along to the shopper? Do I really need UPCs for my food business? What’s the difference between a broker & a distributor, and how do I know which one I need? When should I offer guaranteed sales? How often should I follow up with Grocery Buyers? This show is jam-packed with advice for emerging food brands, so tune in. Find the full show notes and all of the resources, discount codes, and extra content by clicking here. Finally, don’t forget to grab my Retail Roadmap! It’s more important than ever to know what it takes to get ON the retail shelf - be it a physical or digital shelf -, and have high sales once you’re there. Find my free, nine-step guide to building a brand that flies off the shelf by clicking here.
The UPCs you initially launch with are very, very unlikely to be the ones that you scale. Maybe the product inside the package is largely the same. But many things will change as you learn and iterate on the basis of market feedback. In this episode I read a few pages from my new book - Ramping Your Brand and hope you enjoy them.Support the show (http://paypal.me/startupconfidential)
What is Green Goo, what hurdles did that face in the beginning and how are they helping people live better quality lives today. I got all the tea from one of the Co-founders Jodi. This woman-owned business is turning quite a few heads on the market. I personally love their products and gained so much inspiration from their story. Web: www.greengoo.com Follow: @greengoohelps About the brand: It was 2008 when we bought the original company from Nan, an herbalist and icon in California. My sister, Jen, was growing and wildcrafting calendula, chamomile, and a whole host of other herbs. While she was studying to become a certified herbalist and permaculturist, she would dry these herbs on an old screen door then use the warmth of the sun to infuse them in oils over the course of a full moon cycle. These infusions were used to create healing salves which were sold at local farmers' markets. At the time, Jen was also working as a midwife. She would often work throughout the day making salves in her kitchen, followed by night sessions assisting with childbirths. In 2009, Jen and Chris, who would later become her husband, moved to Idaho where they continued to make salves while working other jobs. Our mom, Kathy, and I would travel from Texas, where we lived and worked, to Boise, in order to help Jen with production, and we would also stay to sell salves at the various markets and festivals. Back then we were called Sierra Sage Herbs. And so it went on like this for a while, our family buzzing around the homestead, working around the clock, plant oils covering almost every surface and the scent of flowers wafting through every room. As sales grew, we gathered a small, but determined group of people to help us. We rented a small warehouse and moved some of the production out of Jen's kitchen. At this point, we were still mostly making salves for farmers' markets, festivals, family, and friends. The response to our products was incredible -- our salves were a hit! -- and we realized that we needed a website to help customers find our goods in between various markets and festivals. Luckily, our Mom, a self-taught graphic designer and website developer, came to the rescue. Then, in February 2012, while on vacation with the entire family in Hawaii, we gathered together for an “official” meeting that would change the course of our business. We had just received a request to put our products on the shelves at NGVC, which was our FIRST order from a natural food chain store. They were asking for price sheets and UPCs, which of course we promised, but did not have at the time. It was in this moment that we decided to shift our company from kitchen production and farmers' markets to something bigger. Our business continued to grow and in 2015, not only were our products in the gift bags at the Oscars, but we also participated in our first Outdoor Retailer show, where we received a big break working with Duluth Trading Company. At that point, we knew it was time to go all in. We did a brand refresh and changed the name of our product line from Sierra Sage to Green Goo. We made the collective decision to leave behind our former jobs and move our families to Colorado to be together in one place. And that's where we are now, in a little town called Lyons in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We outgrew our first workspace pretty quickly, and we now have two office spaces, a warehouse, and a farm, where we live and develop our salves and other body care products. We've found our way into a pretty amazing group of retail stores, including Walmart, CVS, Target, Safeway, Tractor Supply Co., Meijer, and HEB, among many others. We now have around thirty employees, a group that includes family, friends from college, Lyons natives, and people we'll be friends with for the rest of our lives. We've come a long way since those early days, and it seems like every time we think we're going to hit a ceiling, we find more room to grow. We can't deny, nor would we want to, that a big part of our story is all of you. Whether it was the early adopters of the products in Idaho or the amazing families approaching us at farmers' markets looking for help, we wouldn't be here without you. We appreciate every bit of customer feedback and support, and we work every day to produce a line of products that will make us proud and make your life better. We're writing our next chapter right now. Please stay tuned as we learn and grow and continue to spread goodness. About the show: ► Website: http://www.ashsaidit.com ► Got Goli Gummies? https://go.goli.com/1loveash5 ► For $5 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link: https://www.lyft.com/ici/ASH584216 ► For discount Pangea Products: https://embracepangaea.grsm.io/ashsaiditmedia3226 ► Want the ‘coldest' water? https://thecoldestwater.com/?ref=ashleybrown12 ► Become A Podcast Legend: http://ashsaidit.podcastersmastery.zaxaa.com/s/6543767021305 ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ash-said-it/id1144197789 ► SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSaidItSuwanee ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1loveash ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashsaidit ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/1loveAsh ► Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AshSaidItMedia ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog ► Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/1LoveAsh/ ► Newsletter: manage1.com/subscribe?u=2a2ca3b799467f125b53863http://ashsaidit.us11.list-c8&id=a6f43cd472 #atlanta #ashsaidit #ashsaidthat #ashblogsit #ashsaidit® Ash Brown is a gifted American producer, blogger, speaker, media personality and event emcee. The blog on AshSaidit.com showcases exclusive event invites, product reviews and so much more. Her motivational podcast "Ash Said It Daily" is available on major media platforms such as iTunes, iHeart Radio & Google Play. This program has over half a million streams worldwide. She uses these mediums to motivate & encourage her audience in the most powerful way. She keeps it real!
Più Soldi dallo Streaming con Deezer UPCS
What is Green Goo, what hurdles did that face in the beginning and how are they helping people live better quality lives today. I got all the tea from one of the Co-founders Jodi. This woman-owned business is turning quite a few heads on the market. I personally love their products and gained so much inspiration from their story. Web: www.greengoo.com Follow: @greengoohelps About the brand: It was 2008 when we bought the original company from Nan, an herbalist and icon in California. My sister, Jen, was growing and wildcrafting calendula, chamomile, and a whole host of other herbs. While she was studying to become a certified herbalist and permaculturist, she would dry these herbs on an old screen door then use the warmth of the sun to infuse them in oils over the course of a full moon cycle. These infusions were used to create healing salves which were sold at local farmers' markets. At the time, Jen was also working as a midwife. She would often work throughout the day making salves in her kitchen, followed by night sessions assisting with childbirths. In 2009, Jen and Chris, who would later become her husband, moved to Idaho where they continued to make salves while working other jobs. Our mom, Kathy, and I would travel from Texas, where we lived and worked, to Boise, in order to help Jen with production, and we would also stay to sell salves at the various markets and festivals. Back then we were called Sierra Sage Herbs. And so it went on like this for a while, our family buzzing around the homestead, working around the clock, plant oils covering almost every surface and the scent of flowers wafting through every room. As sales grew, we gathered a small, but determined group of people to help us. We rented a small warehouse and moved some of the production out of Jen's kitchen. At this point, we were still mostly making salves for farmers' markets, festivals, family, and friends. The response to our products was incredible -- our salves were a hit! -- and we realized that we needed a website to help customers find our goods in between various markets and festivals. Luckily, our Mom, a self-taught graphic designer and website developer, came to the rescue. Then, in February 2012, while on vacation with the entire family in Hawaii, we gathered together for an “official” meeting that would change the course of our business. We had just received a request to put our products on the shelves at NGVC, which was our FIRST order from a natural food chain store. They were asking for price sheets and UPCs, which of course we promised, but did not have at the time. It was in this moment that we decided to shift our company from kitchen production and farmers' markets to something bigger. Our business continued to grow and in 2015, not only were our products in the gift bags at the Oscars, but we also participated in our first Outdoor Retailer show, where we received a big break working with Duluth Trading Company. At that point, we knew it was time to go all in. We did a brand refresh and changed the name of our product line from Sierra Sage to Green Goo. We made the collective decision to leave behind our former jobs and move our families to Colorado to be together in one place. And that's where we are now, in a little town called Lyons in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We outgrew our first workspace pretty quickly, and we now have two office spaces, a warehouse, and a farm, where we live and develop our salves and other body care products. We've found our way into a pretty amazing group of retail stores, including Walmart, CVS, Target, Safeway, Tractor Supply Co., Meijer, and HEB, among many others. We now have around thirty employees, a group that includes family, friends from college, Lyons natives, and people we'll be friends with for the rest of our lives. We've come a long way since those early days, and it seems like every time we think we're going to hit a ceiling, we find more room to grow. We can't deny, nor would we want to, that a big part of our story is all of you. Whether it was the early adopters of the products in Idaho or the amazing families approaching us at farmers' markets looking for help, we wouldn't be here without you. We appreciate every bit of customer feedback and support, and we work every day to produce a line of products that will make us proud and make your life better. We're writing our next chapter right now. Please stay tuned as we learn and grow and continue to spread goodness. About the show: ► Website: http://www.ashsaidit.com ► Got Goli Gummies? https://go.goli.com/1loveash5 ► For $5 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link: https://www.lyft.com/ici/ASH584216 ► For discount Pangea Products: https://embracepangaea.grsm.io/ashsaiditmedia3226 ► Want the ‘coldest' water? https://thecoldestwater.com/?ref=ashleybrown12 ► Become A Podcast Legend: http://ashsaidit.podcastersmastery.zaxaa.com/s/6543767021305 ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ash-said-it/id1144197789 ► SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSaidItSuwanee ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1loveash ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashsaidit ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/1loveAsh ► Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AshSaidItMedia ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog ► Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/1LoveAsh/ ► Newsletter: manage1.com/subscribe?u=2a2ca3b799467f125b53863http://ashsaidit.us11.list-c8&id=a6f43cd472 #atlanta #ashsaidit #ashsaidthat #ashblogsit #ashsaidit® Ash Brown is a gifted American producer, blogger, speaker, media personality and event emcee. The blog on AshSaidit.com showcases exclusive event invites, product reviews and so much more. Her motivational podcast "Ash Said It Daily" is available on major media platforms such as iTunes, iHeart Radio & Google Play. This program has over half a million streams worldwide. She uses these mediums to motivate & encourage her audience in the most powerful way. She keeps it real!
Listing reinstatement and suspension service https://myamazonguy.com/amazon-listing-reinstatement/https://www.webretailer.com/b/amazon-suspension-root-causes/What went wrong?Diagnosis and strategy in relation to “what went wrong” forms a big part of how we approach account reinstatement work with our clients.We understand the key differences between what Amazon refers to as “root causes” (the problems that led to complaints) and the seller’s perspective on what happened. Those differences can make or break an account suspension appeal.So, what are the differences between the seller’s perspective and root causes?Let’s dig into what you have to research in terms of:Mistakes by staffGaps in your internal operationsFailure to keep up with performance notificationsAny other root causes relevant to your suspensionDon’t underestimate the importance of getting beyond your first reaction to a buyer or brand complaint, and digging down to the underlying problem.Here are some examples.Expired productsIt’s not unusual for buyers to complain about products being past their expiry date, or lacking an expiry date completely.What sellers say:Buyers thought the items were expired because the items don’t have an expiration date.Or…Buyers didn’t find the expiration date on the product, but it’s there.Root causes that Amazon wants to hear:We did not realize that buyers looking for expiration dates would have trouble finding them on the bottom of the bottle.Or…We failed to appreciate that several buyers would mistake the lot code for the expiration date due to similar code formatting.Inauthentic complaintsAuthenticity has long been a problem on the Amazon marketplace. Buyers can be quick to complain that the product they have received is fake or is not what was advertised.What sellers say:Buyers made authenticity complaints because we sold under listings that did not exactly match the products we sold.Root cause that Amazon wants to hear:We lacked a listing review oversight process to match our inventory to the proper product detail page 100% in every detail.Late shipment ratesSellers who do their own fulfillment (instead of using FBA) have to keep their shipping metrics up to a high standard, particularly if they are in the Seller Fulfilled Prime program.What sellers say:We had a technical error in our order fulfillment software that delayed some shipments until we could correct it.Root cause that Amazon wants to hear:We failed to assign a manager to monitor our tools and processes for on-time shipment confirmations, which led to some late shipments and out of range metrics.Safety concernsComplaints and trigger words around safety are a priority for Amazon. The slightest hint that a product you sell is not safe can cause an immediate ASIN suspension.What sellers say:A buyer who consumed our product did not read the instructions or check with their doctor in advance to see if their allergy would be provoked when consuming the item.Root cause that Amazon wants to hear:We failed to update our listing details to include information on specific allergies that could lead to bad buyer experiences or health concerns.Rights owner complaintsMore and more brand owners are monitoring the Amazon marketplace and filing infringement notices when they find that their intellectual property is being misused.What sellers say:We listed our products after matching UPCs and joined an already established listing. We did not create the listing.Or…We have contacted the rights owners to resolve the dispute but thSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/myamazonguy)
There are seven things that many musicians get mixed up — publishers and PROs, cover songs and Public Domain tunes, UPCs and ISRCs, etc. In this episode, Kevin and Chris clear away the confusion. What's the difference between "this" and "that?" Listen up! Distribute, monetize, and promote your music at cdbaby.com.
Amazon is making changes, yet again. This time, product bundling on Amazon is at the crosshairs due to policy changes on GTIN exemption listings. But Amazon policies seem different for everyone - while some sellers go ungated, others get error messages for the same receipts and invoices. We hear you: it's like Amazon doesn't even follow its own rules! The struggle is real, but you need to ensure that you are compliant when it comes to listing bundles on Amazon to scale your online business. This week, we share an overview of Amazon bundling rules and policies, what's changed, and what you can do to ensure your Amazon business is compliant. We explain what GTIN is and illustrate how changes to it can affect bundling. We share alternatives and solutions to GTIN exemption listing on Amazon and discuss how you can leverage your relationships with your Amazon vendors to get Universal Product Codes. We also discuss why Amazon makes these policy changes as well as explain how to sell on Amazon without using big brand names. “Changes on GTIN exemptions now require you to have packaging. It's part of Amazon wanting to make the whole buyer experience better for its end-users.” - Amy Feierman This week on the Amazon Files: What the GTIN exemption is and how it works Changes with Amazon's GTIN exemption policies, how they affect bundling, and why Amazon makes changes to their policies Why you don't need big brand names to make your Amazon bundles sell What Universal Product Codes are and why generating random UPCs won't work How to use generic as a GTIN exemption on Amazon Using your business relationship with vendors to get UPCs Getting a trademark to get GTIN exemptions with brand packaging How long it takes to get a GTIN exemption and trademark Buying GS1 UPCs and other alternatives to custom packaging on Amazon A faster way to get brand registry Related Content: Mommy Income - Custom Packaging InventoryLab Amazon IP Accelerator Program The Confident Wholesale Bundlers Workshop Comes to a City Near You! Are you ready to take your Amazon business to the next level? Want to meet other amazing Amazon sellers while gaining a fresh perspective and developing an action plan? Join us for the 2020 Confident Wholesale Bundlers Workshop! Unlock the skills and strategies you need to consistently make successful bundles on Amazon. At the Confident Wholesale Bundlers Workshop, you'll receive hands-on training on: What wholesale bundles are and why they work How to build bundles that SELL The foundation and framework for building successful wholesale bundles from the ground up How to find and properly communicate with vendors How to organize all of your wholesale research information Pricing strategies for your wholesale bundles And much, much more! To reserve your spot at the 2020 Confident Wholesale Bundlers Workshop - or request VIP Exclusive Access - visit: MommyIncome.com/2020Workshop Grow Your Amazon Business! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon seller along their business journey one step at a time with your hosts and Amazon experts, Amy Feierman and Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show and leave us your honest review. Don't forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the codeword 2020 Update to join us on Facebook. Each week we host a live discussion on how to grow your Amazon business. Don't forget to check out our website and subscribe to our mailing list for even more resources.
Marketplace Blueprint: Product Marketing Strategies for Amazon
How do you list products on Amazon without a UPC? Amazon has specific rules on what type of UPCs that they will accept as valid. In this episode, Nate and Robyn talk about GTIN Exemptions, UPCs, and the GS1 Barcode database. Do I need a UPC to list my product on Amazon? The answer to that problem can depend on a few factors. One of these factors is the category of your item. While Amazon requires a UPC for a majority of categories, there are some categories on Amazon that do not require a UPC. Amazon has a list available with the requirements for GTINs (Global Trade Identification Numbers)in Seller Central. If a UPC is required, you want also to note that Amazon has specific policies around UPCs. Amazon's policy about UPCs states that: “We verify the authenticity of product UPCs by checking the GS1 database. UPCs that do not match the information provided by GS1 will be considered invalid. We recommend obtaining your UPCs directly from GS1 (and not from other third parties selling UPC licenses) to ensure the appropriate information is reflected in the GS1 database." This means that technically, for your UPC to be valid to create a listing on Amazon, it should be a GS1 barcode registered to the company that makes the product. There are a few categories that do not require UPCs at this time. For those products, you generally need an MPN (manufacturers part number) to create your listing. Looking for support, training, or someone to handle your Amazon channel sales for you? Contact us at MarketplaceBlueprint.com for more information. We have case studies of our work with a variety of Amazon accounts on both Amazon Vendor Central and Seller Central. You can also visit our Marketplace Blueprint Blog and schedule an appointment with Robyn.
This podcast highlights original research published in the May 2019 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, the official journal of the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) Foundation. The objectives of this study were to (1) analyze unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) among otolaryngologists, (2) identify risk factors for UPCs, and (3) determine the impact of physician feedback on subsequent UPCs. In conclusion, systematic monitoring and respectful sharing of peer-comparative patient complaint data offers an intervention associated with UPCs and concomitant malpractice risk reduction. Collegial feedback over time increases the response rate, but a small proportion of physicians will require directive interventions. Click here to read the full article.
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
What We’re Drinking Heady Topper by The Alchemist Double IPA -8% ABV / 100 IBU Foodandwine.com listed as #5 most important American Craft Beer Untappd 3.2.7 Update Reorganized Settings Check-in to a beer from nearby venue page Account creation with Facebook improvements Quickly add beer by scanning UPCs in lists Check out the complete 3.2.7 release notes here. Style of the Week This week we learn about the history of the Bock and it's variants. Beer Articles Pliny the Younger brought in $3.3 million in economic impact this year This British company is turning food waste into beer Why Breweries Are Embracing Hard Kombucha Beer is not beneficial, German court rules #AskUntappd Matthew on Twitter writes "Hey guys, I have a question for the podcast. What is the difference between a top fermented and bottom fermented beer?" Have a question for us? Send it over using #AskUntappd on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Sponsor Show off your love of Untappd. Check out our online store and pick up Untappd branded glassware, shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and more! Go to http://store.untappd.com and enter the coupon code “PODCAST” at checkout to get 20% off all orders Connect Twitter Facebook Instagram Google+
This week Blasko and Mike take on a fan question from Todd, a loyal listener and 60 Days to Signable student (via Outerloop Coaching). Todd writes: Hey there! This is Todd, student of 60 Days to Signable and Unleash It Right and long-time listener of the podcast. My band recorded a 5-song EP with a well-known producer last year. We paid a lot of money for it and without really taking time to learn about the industry or business side of things, or consider self-releasing, we jumped the gun and signed with an indie label to a not-so-good contract. We soon realized that was a mistake. The release plan we had in place, which was a part of a PR campaign we'd already paid for, was scrapped (and we didn't get money back); the singles from the EP weren't released or supported well. We pressed physicals on our own (the label didn't want to), and we didn't know about UPCs at the time, so we have about 200 copies left without barcodes that we can't report. About a month before the EP's actual release, we lost two members, one of whom was the singer on the album. A couple of months ago we talked to the label and secured a release. We decided (again, hastily, I think) to just give up rights to the EP because we didn't have the same members anyway. Looking back, I think that was a mistake because the label didn't pay for any part of the recording/production, etc. of the EP. Now, we're debating whether or not to approach the label to buy the rights back. We have new songs, but we feel that EP could have been so much more than it was... especially with the knowledge I now have from 60 Days and Unleash it Right. Our thinking is that we'd use the stems we already have from the EP (FX & drums), then re-record the guitars/bass (maybe in a lower tuning), and also have our new vocalist do his version of the vocals, and get everything re-mixed & mastered. So my questions: (1) In terms of "masters"; let's call the masters we gave up as Set A, and the ones we'd hypothetically redo as Set B... would they technically be separate sets of masters? To where we wouldn't necessarily have to buy the old ones back? Or would they be re-recordings? (2) Is it worth our time to worry about it, or should we just accept our mistakes, cut our losses, and focus solely on new material? We do have two new tracks we're planning the releases for currently. But, we also feel there's more that could be done with the old EP, and that giving up on an investment isn't necessarily the best idea... but also chasing a dead one might not be either. Sorry for the length of this email! Thanks for your time and always awesome insight. Best, Todd --- Tune in to hear the insightful discussions and answers to Todd's questions. Email any questions or comments to askblasko@gmail.com Find Blasko on Twitter and Instagram: @blasko1313 Find Mike Mowery on Twitter and Instagram: @mikeoloop Want to get your band to the top of the charts with your next album release? Sign up for Mike Mowery's “Release It Right” and “Unleash It Right” webinars at signup.outerloopcoaching.com ManageMental is part of the Jabberjaw Media Network. www.jabberjawmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How has your week been? Have you accomplished the goals you set for yourself? Or are you bogged down with problems in your business? Sit back and tune into this episode of The Amazing Seller. Whether everything is going great or you have experienced setbacks, this episode is for you. Scott talks about some key wisdom that has helped him focus throughout his week and accomplish his long term goals. He also tackles questions from TAS followers like YOU. As usual, Scott brings his fire and passion - you don’t want to miss it! Stay the Course Do you have difficulty focusing on tasks for the long term? Are you often sidetracked by distractions less important that fill up your time? You aren’t alone! Many people struggle to focus and finish the things they set out to accomplish. One key lesson that Scott has learned and implemented in his life is this simple yet profound truth, “Stay the course.” Try it! Focus on one objective or plan and give it everything you’ve got for at least 90 days. Scott suggests taking it further and committing to 6 months, but find what works for you. Learn more on this episode of The Amazing Seller! Separate UPCs for each variation All the talk about UPC codes and SKUs can be very confusing. Do you need a unique one for each variation on your product listing? The simple answer is yes. You need to make sure that each different option that you provide both in size and color options need to have their own unique UPCs. If you’d like to hear more about this topic and Scott’s breakdown make sure to take the time, sit down with pen and paper and listen to this episode of The Amazing Seller. To go further with this topic and others presented on this episode, you can check out the resources section at the end of this post. How YOU can get reviews for your Amazon product Now that Amazon has rolled out its new “Terms of Service” many people are left wondering how to get reviews for their Amazon product listing. Scott shares his view that reviews are not the be all end all. He wants listeners like you to focus on getting sales, not reviews. Scott suggests that you follow up with the individuals who buy your product and offer them great deals. Wow, them, give them discounts and really treat them special. Then ask them to head over to Amazon and let them know how you feel. That's it. No guarantees, no promises, no gimmicks. If you follow Scott’s advice, you will see the positive results. If you’d like to hear Scott expand on this strategy and more, make sure to catch this episode of The Amazing Seller. Is retail arbitrage dead? With a lot of the changes going on with Amazon, it can feel like opportunities for sellers are diminishing. But is that feeling true? Are there still opportunities out there for endeavors like retail arbitrage? Don’t pronounce it dead just yet! Scott is convinced that there are still many opportunities for profit and growth while selling on Amazon. Don’t miss this episode of The Amazing Seller to get Scott’s opinion on the status of the marketplace and how you can still succeed in starting and building a business online. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER [0:03] Scott’s introduction to this episode of the podcast! [1:40] Stay the course. [9:00] Question #1: Do I have to have just one UPC that represents the entire product or do I have to have a unique one for each variation? [14:40] Question #2: How do I get reviews for my product now that the Amazon terms of service has changed? [23:30] Question #3: Is retail arbitrage dead? RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE T25 Make sure to catch some great TAS resources - HERE Catch last week's episode - HERE 1Kfasttrack.com Check out episode #312 - HERE
What do you do if you have all the passion, dedication, vision, and organization to start your own business but technical nuances can sometimes overwhelm you? Don’t give up! You need experienced and thorough experts that can help you navigate complicated waters. Scott and his team at The Amazing Seller have gone through all the tough and “in the weeds” details so don’t have to! Let Scott and Chris guide you on this episode as they break down the UPC code debate, where to get UPCs, and other great business advice! Rest assured, you came to the right place. What are your options when obtaining a UPC for your product? If you are just getting started with selling on Amazon, a lot of the recent talk about UPCs can get really confusing. What you need to know is that UPCs are essential to selling your product on Amazon and with other retailers. You might be wondering, “Where do I get a UPC for my product?” You can get a UPC from GS1 or other Third party providers such as Snap. The big difference between these two options is that GS1 gives you ownership of your UPC. They create the unique UPC and hand it to you for a cost. Most third party providers like Snap obtain the first few digits of the UPC from GS1 and then generate the rest. You can verify via GS1 the UPCs that you obtain from Third parties to make sure you are compliant with Amazon’s standards. This might all sound very confusing but Scott and Chris take the time on this episode of The Amazing Seller to break down what this all means and how it directly impacts business owners like you. What you need to know regarding Amazon’s policy with UPCs Let’s cut through all the jargon and get to the clear cut information that you need to make sure you are compliant with Amazon’s standards. The last thing you want is to go into selling with Amazon or continuing to sell with them and go off of the wrong information. So here is what Amazon wants you to know regarding their recent change in UPC policy: “We verify the authenticity of product UPCs by checking the GS1 database. UPCs that do not match the information provided by GS1 will be considered invalid. We recommend obtaining you UPCs directly from GS1 and not from other 3rd parties selling UPC licenses to ensure that the appropriate information is reflected in the GS1 database.” This means that you CAN continue to get UPCs from 3rd parties but they MUST be verified via GS1. Anyone can verify a UPC through GS1. Don’t panic if your UPC is provided by a party like Snap. Just double check to make sure it is valid via GS1. If it’s not, there are steps you can take to address this. To hear Scott and Chris expand on this topic, listen to this episode of The Amazing Seller. Key advice when you are just beginning your business. Lots of people come out of the woodwork when you start a business to share in your excitement and give you their advice. How do you determine which voices to listen to? It’s kind of like parenting in a lot of ways. When you first find out that you and your spouse are expecting, everyone wants to chime in on how you should start off as new parents. But at the end of the day, the best advice is what Chris mentions on this episode of The Amazing Seller. You can take all these opinions in and consider them but ultimately, you have to do what’s best for you. When all is said and done, you are the one that has to live with the decisions that are made. Don’t allow yourself to get pressured or convinced to take advice that doesn’t sit right with you. Don’t miss this simple step when starting your business! When you first decide that you are going to start your own business, emotions are flying. There’s joy, excitement, anxiety, nervousness, and so much more! In the rush of emotions, sometimes you forget the little details that are vital to success. On this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott talks about one of the early mistakes he made with his photography business that cost time and money him right when things were taking off. Don’t miss out on this great advice. Learn from Scott’s mistake and find out how you can start your business off with your best foot forward! OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER [0:03] Scott’s introduction to this episode of the podcast! [1:20] Let’s talk UPCs [3:30] Where you can get UPCs [9:00] Chris and Scott discuss Pat’s post about UPCs [14:00] Renewal fees [14:30] Amazon’s policy regarding UPCs [21:30] If you are just starting out, here’s what you should do. [29:00] Chris’ advice - Do what’s best for you. [30:20] What to do when you are coming up with a business name. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Snap UPCs GS1 UPCs United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Welcome to this episode of the Ask Scott version of the Amazing Seller Podcast. This is where you can get your Amazon private label questions answered by Scott Voelker, an experienced Amazon seller. He’s had all kinds of successes and failures from which he is able to draw answers to the questions that come his way each week. If you’d like to submit a question for Scott to answer about your private label efforts on Amazon, you can submit your question by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - and let Scott know what you’re having trouble with. My manufacturer asked me a strange question about “shipping marks.” A listener to the podcast was working with her supplier to get the products shipped and the supplier asked her what “shipping marks” she could supply for the packaging. She’s not sure what that really means so she turned to Scott to get his input. You’re going to be surprised at the simple advice Scott has for this listener and how easy it might be for her to get this issue resolved, so be sure you listen to this episode in case you ever run into this issue with your supplier. Amazon assigns products their own barcode, so why do I need a UPC number for each product? The issue of UPCs and Amazon assigned barcodes can be one of the most confusing things for new private label sellers. Why do you need a UPC if Amazon assigns its own? The simple answer is that Amazon requires you to have a unique UPC code for each of your products before you’re able to create a listing for the product on the Amazon platform. So you’ve got to do it. Period. Beyond that, Amazon does use its own barcode for internal and sales purposes. You can hear why this is the case and how it impacts your product selection and bundling of products on this episode. I understand why it’s important for me to capture my customer’s emails, but I’m not sure how to do it. Once you have people buying your products on Amazon you want to create a way to capture their email address. Why? So that you can market to them the next time you have a new or related product to sell. Those people who have already purchased from you are most likely to buy your new product. But how do you get those emails? What’s the best system to follow in order to make it easy, and to do it within Amazon’s terms of service? Scott’s got an in depth answer for you on this episode of The Amazing Seller. I’m ready to decide on my first product. Should I select a product that has variations like size, color, or style? There are so many options when it comes to selling products on Amazon through private label sales. How do you go about picking the right one with the right features. A listener to the podcast asks Scott if she should steer clear of products that have variations like size and color - and Scott recommends that she DOES steer clear of them for her first product. Do you know why he’d say that? You can find out on this episode of The Amazing Seller podcast. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER [0:03] Scott’s introduction to this episode of the podcast! [0:20] How you can submit your own question for these Q&A episodes. [1:15] A post from the TAS Facebook group that you can join! [3:49] QUESTION ONE: My manufacturer has asked me for “shipping marks” - what is that? [7:30] QUESTION TWO: Do I have to use my own UPC labels since Amazon has their own type that they use? [11:50] QUESTION THREE: I’m a bit stuck when it comes to capturing emails from my customers. How can I do it? [20:55] QUESTION FOUR: I’m setting up a new product and I’m curious if I should start with a product that has multiple sizes and/or colors? (variations) www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - Ask your own question! www.TheAmazingSeller.com/24 - How Scott gets email addresses and creates insert cards. www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - Join the TAS Facebook group.
I'm bundling up for Q1 with a combo variation of an existing product. Here's how, here's why and here's a strategy to leverage your existing success and make more money. Sounds good to me. It's FBA ALLSTARS Bundle Time Why I love seeing coaching clients crush it How to handle Chinese competitors Why I'm considering a killer bundle The reason to use the same supplier What I'm doing to expand with a combo variation bundle The effect of leveraging existing listing success Why I like automatic upsells The reason you should set up EVERY listing as a parent/child variation How to use "Add New Product" as a variation creator of existing listing What to do when people steal your UPCs Why you NEED to get Amazon on the phone The massive difference between FBA vs FBM in rankings How to avoid appearing like a counterfeiter The power of variations Convert a Listing to a Variation Add new product merge with existing UPC Call Amazon for help Bulk upload csv Update everything in the backend MAKE SURE TO CHANGE LISTING BACK TO FBA Want more? Subscribe TODAY! The post An Amazon Bundle Of An Existing Listing – AND MORE – ALL59 appeared first on FBA Allstars.
The most amazing part of having an Amazon Private Label business is that it allows you to build your own real business to support your family and the lifestyle you desire. And there’s a huge community of people making their living this way, and most of them are inside Scott’s TAS community on Facebook. On this episode you’re going to hear Scott’s congrats to one of the members of that community for the great success he’s beginning to see in his business. Be sure to listen to this “Ask Scott” episode to hear that shout-out and to hear some very practical questions answered. What kind of budget should I have to get started with an Amazon private label business from scratch? A listener to the show asks a very important question today regarding the beginning stages of beginning a business like Scott has on Amazon. It’s all about budget. How much money should you expect to put into the launch phase of your new Amazon business? Scott says “it depends,” on your product, your niche, and lots of other things - but overall he thinks you should try for around $5,000 to get started, even though there have been some very successful sellers who began with much, much less. Listen to this epiosode to hear Scott’s full answer and to get your head around the steps involved in finding a product, producing it, and getting it into Amazon to sell. I want to double check the quality of my products before sending them to Amazon, but I live in Sweden. What do you suggest? International Amazon sellers definitely have some unique hurdles to get past in order to build a successful business that sells on the U.S. Amazon store.One of those has to do with assuring product quality when it comes from an overseas supplier. Scott typically recommends that you have your products sent to you before sending them to Amazon, exactly SO you can check the quality before it goes to Amazon. But for international sellers that requires an extra shipping step and therefore an extra expense. There are some creative ways current international sellers have dealt with that issue, and Scott highlights some of those things on this episode, so be sure to hear his explanations. I’m new to this Amazon private label thing. What’s a UPC code and what is it used for? Ahhh...the mysterious UPC code. What is it that’s encoded into that numeric and striped barcode? It’s not really all that difficult and Scott’s going to cover it on this episode. Basically, Amazon uses the UPC code to ensure the proper identification of your product. For that reason, every product or variation of a product has to have its own unique UPC code. That means that a bundle of products would need an individual UPC code that is different from each of the products inside that bundle. It sounds confusing but it’s not. Listen to this episode to hear Scott’s run down of how Amazon uses UPC codes and how you can get UPCs to go on your products. How do you determine what product supplier to use when they all are vying for your business by dropping the prices on each other? A listener has a very good problem. He’s been researching his products from a handful of suppliers and each of them keeps dropping their prices based on the quotes the others are giving him. He’s trying to decide which supplier he should use and feels bad to turn down these suppliers that he’s had such long conversations with. Scott’s got some great insights into this issue and points out that it’s not only a pricing issue. There’s also supply issues, turnaround time, shipping methods and times, and more. For some powerfully important things to consider when sourcing your products, you should make sure you listen to this episode!
If you're stuck or confused by UPCs and FNKSUs, you are NOT alone. I've noticed a ton of people getting hung up on these. So this episode is my attempt to clear up some of the confusion. We're going to dive deep into some basics here to get an understanding of what the barcodes are and what you need to do with them. The transcript is below, but if you'd like to leave a comment, head over to http://brandingblitz.com/5/ Hey everybody, welcome back! This is JR and you're listening to the Branding Blitz podcast where I'll take you behind the scenes as I go through the process of trying to strategically use speed and brute force to launch and scale a new brand. This is episode 5 and today I'm going to discuss a topic that seems to be a hang up for a lot of people. I quit using Facebook back in January – when my health started falling apart, I simply didn't have the energy to invest in it. I got back on again this week for two reasons. First, I wanted to look into setting up a page to help promote my new brand. But I also wanted to join up with some of the Facebook groups where people are discussing Amazon FBA and private labeling – primarily I was interested in the one Scott Voelker set up to build a community around The Amazing Seller podcast, but there are a handful of others I joined too. So after months of avoiding Facebook, Scott Voelker got me back on it – I'm still not sure if I should thank him for that or not, but there is an active community there with a lot of valuable information being discussed. But there was something I noticed very quickly. There are certain questions that seem to get asked quite frequently. One of those issues in particular I've noticed being asked at least 2-3 times a day over the past few days. It seems every several hours someone asks some form of the following questions: Do I need a UPC code? Where do I get it? Does the manufacturer provide the UPC code? Does the manufacturer put the UPC code on there or do I? Do I need to put the UPC code and the FNSKU? What's and FNSKU and where do I get it? What's the difference between a UPC and an FNSKU? Do I need to register my UPC code? There's probably a dozen or so different questions you could ask along those lines, but ultimately, this is what is really being ask: Can someone PLEASE help me understand this confusing mess of acronyms and barcodes? I think I've got it sorted out, so I wanted to put together an episode explaining the details as a resource to anyone trying to figure out what they need to do. So that's the topic of this episode titled: “Alphabet Soup: UPC, FNSKU, SMH, IDK, TGIF” I think most of the difficulty stems from not understanding the basics of what barcodes are, what a UPC is and how they're used and how that differs from an FNSKU. So we're going to start with some basic explanations which should help make everything clearer when we get to discussing the practical application. So first off – what is a barcode? Probably the first thing that pops into most people's head is the black and white set of lines and numbers you see on the back of every product on every shelf of any major retail store. But that is a specific type of barcode – it's a UPC barcode. But a barcode can be used for other things too. If you look at your computer case, it likely has a barcode with a serial number on it and maybe a product key as well. Your car may have a barcode on the dash or door for the VIN number. When UPS delivers your package, it has a barcode. And as I've recently discovered, when you check in to a hospital or ER, the little bracelet they give you may have a barcode. All that is to say, when we hear the word “barcode” something very specific tends to come to mind, but the actual term barcode refers to a system of turning information into a code made up of lines or bars so that it can be easily read by an optical scanner. We're trained to read text, so the lines don't mean much to us, but for a computer using very basic optics, it is much easier for it to interpret lines than letters. Barcodes have actually expanded beyond basic black and white lines to other formats which can hold more information within the code – but for the purposes of this discussion just think of a barcode as an alphabet that is easier for a computer to understand. Then what's a UPC code? UPC stands for Universal Product Code, and this is what you see on any product you pick up in Walmart. The numbers at the bottom are the human readable version of the UPC and the black lines are what you get when you translate those numbers into that special alphabet I mentioned. In theory, each of those sets of numbers is unique to an individual product. So when you get to the cash register, instead of the cashier having to look up the product by name in their computer or type in the price manually, they can flash that set of bars in front of their scanner and the computer can quickly figure out that 037000195221 is a tube of toothpaste. We'll talk more about the UPC, where you get it, and how to use it in a minute, but first let's talk about the FNSKU. What is that? Well, barcodes aren't just used at the cash register, they're also very useful in warehouses. Imagine you've got warehouse with hundreds of thousands of products in it. You get a sheet of paper with a bunch of product names on it and you're supposed to go find those product and box them up to ship out. Let's get even more specific – let's say one of the products on that list is that same toothpaste we talked about earlier. I just searched on Amazon for “toothpaste” and it showed 13 pages of results. So that's hundreds of different toothpaste varieties. So imagine I direct you to the “toothpaste” section of Amazon's warehouse, and tell you to find the four pack of 6 ounce tubes of Crest Pro-Health Whitening Fresh Clean Mint toothpaste. Now, be sure not to confuse that with the six pack of 4.2 ounce tubes of Crest Pro-Health Clean Mint toothpaste – a totally different product. This is where barcodes come in – instead of you sitting there trying to verify you've got the right thing saying to yourself, “Wait was it the 4 pack or 6 pack?” “Oops this is 4.2 ounce tubes, I needed the 6 ounce tubes.” “Wait this one isn't the special 'whitening' version, I need that version.” You can just scan the barcode and the computer will interpret that code and verify that it's the right thing. So far all of this could be done with the regular UPC barcodes, but Amazon faces another issue that compounds the complexity of this. Imagine now that you not only have to find that specific type of toothpaste amidst all the others – but there are 7 different companies selling that toothpaste all stored in your warehouse and you want to make sure you send out a product from the correct set of inventory. Well, if everyone selling that toothpaste has is using the same UPC barcode, then you don't have any way of telling them apart, so you've got two options. You could just pile everyone's inventory into the same bin and send them without differentiating between who the inventory actually belongs to – this is an option you can use on Amazon and it probably would be the right option for this toothpaste example, but for a lot of products that isn't ideal, so Amazon needed another option. This is where the FNSKU comes from.The FNSKU is a set of letters and numbers that identifies a unique product just like the UPC does – but the FNSKU also contains information linking it to a specific seller. When Amazon needs to be able to tell something is your product specifically, they will require it to have an FNSKU barcode on it. And to make things easier on them, they actually require that the UPC barcode that would generally be on the packaging either be replaced or covered so that only the FNSKU barcode is scannable. At this point, you might be thinking - “Alright JR, that's great, I now know way more than I ever wanted to about barcodes – but I still have no idea how to apply all this to my product.” Well, let's talk about that a bit. Since we know that it is eventually going to be replaced or covered up, a logical question is, “Do I even need a UPC or can I just use the FNSKU?” Every product you list on Amazon will need to have a UPC before you can create the listing. In fact if you have variations, such as offering the same product in multiple colors, each one will need it's own UPC. That said, depending on how you decide to move forward with what you're learning here, you may not actually need the barcode itself – just the set of numbers. You need to type in the numbers from the UPC when you are registering the product on Amazon and that may be the last time you ever think about that UPC. Knowing that you have to have a UPC code for your product and in the end the only scannable bardcode needs to be the FNSKU, you've got about 3 options on how to proceed. One of the most common options for people starting out is simply to have Amazon put a sticker on your product with the FNSKU on it. This is an easy and hands-off way to get started. I think it is popular because all the different barcodes can be confusing and you don't have to understand ins and outs of all of this to take this route – you just let Amazon handle it. So if you're still feeling confused at the end of this podcast, this may be a good route for you to get started with. However, it does have a cost to it. You pay Amazon $.20 per item to sticker it. That's not much, and hopefully that won't cut into your profits too much, but as you scale up your business, $.20 per item sold can really add up – and there's an easy way to avoid it once you get past the information overload that's often involved in getting a product launched. One thing to remember about this option is that Amazon does require it to have a scannable barcode when they receive your products for FBA. They don't care if it's the UPC barcode or the FNSKU, but they need to have some scannable idenifier. So if you want to have them put the FNSKU sticker on there, your product needs to have the UPC barcode on there to begin with and they will cover it up with their stickers. This is definitely a viable option starting out, but again, I don't believe it is the BEST option as you begin to grow and move forward – and it's not the option I am using. The second option is to put the stickers on yourself. This one seems like a nice choice initially for a lot of people when they think about having to pay Amazon to sticker their products. Putting a sticker on my product is easy, right? Why should I pay Amazon for that? Well, for one thing stickering yourself isn't free. You have to have a printer to do it, which may use up some of your ink or toner. I know some people do it, but Amazon specifically says not to use an inkjet printer because they can smudge, smear, and fade sometimes. So they want you to either use a laser or thermal printer. And you have to buy the labels. In the end, it's still probably less than $.20 per unit, but not free – AND even more importantly is the amount of time you're spending doing all this. Ultimately, it's up to you, but generally I would recommend having Amazon sticker it instead of you. One potential exception is if for some reason you can't get the UPC barcode printed on the product – in that case Amazon wouldn't label it for you anyway, so you might as well put the FNSKU on yourself. The third option, and the one I plan to utilize myself, doesn't even involve stickers. We know that Amazon wants you to have a UPC when you set up the product page, but somewhere along the line they actually want that UPC barcode to disappear and be replaced by the FNSKU barcode. Well, since Amazon never needs to actually see the UPC barcode on your product, there's no reason to even put it there in the first place. Rather than having your manufacturer print the UPC barcode on the product and then paying Amazon to cover it up – let's take that FNSKU barcode that would have been printed on a sticker and have the manufacturer print it directly on the product packaging right from the beginning. They were already going to print the UPC barcode on there, so this is no more work, is not any more complex for them, and should not cause any extra costs. It gives Amazon exactly what they want and allows you to avoid either stickering it yourself or paying Amazon to sticker them for you. It's really that simple – on the package where you would have them put the UPC barcode, have them print the FNSKU barcode instead. Now that I've said it, I'm sure some of you are thinking, “Seriously, the solution fits into a single sentence? Couldn't you have lead with that?” Well yeah, I could've, but I noticed that on all of the posts asking about barcodes, someone would answer with something along those lines, very basic and to the point – and very often it still didn't click with the person asking the question until it was explained in more depth. I THINK that is at least in part because most of us see UPC barcodes everyday but we never think much about the functions they're performing and the FNSKU is a whole new thing and we don't immediately know how they're related. So that's why I started by discussing the function and relationship of the UPC barcodes and FNSKU barcodes. I'm hoping that by starting there, it helps understand the whole picture better, and by the time I get to the point of saying, “Just put the FNSKU barcode on there instead,” it will make more sense why I'm telling you to do that. There's still plenty of other questions to answer like: “Where do I get my UPC code?” “Once I buy it, do I have to register it somewhere before Amazon can recognize it?” and “Why isn't Amazon accepting my UPC?” I think I'll split off a more in depth discussion of those questions into another episode but for now here's the short answers. You can buy UPC codes in a hundred different places around the web – to buy them from the same place where I got 10 of them for $20, go to brandingblitz.com/barcodes No, you do not have to register your UPC code before Amazon will recognize it. There are a number of reasons Amazon may not be recognizing your UPC code as valid, but probably the most common one is that there are actually a couple different standards for UPC codes, some have an extra number in them. Yours may be one of the shorter ones – if this is the case, adding a zero in front of it should allow Amazon to recognize it. Don't worry, that's not just a hack, it's actually a valid way of converting from the shorter UPC to the longer version. For a transcript of this show, and to leave any comments or feedback, head over to brandingblitz.com/5 Let me know if this explanation helped you and if I left anything out that you'd like me to explain further. If you have any questions you'd like to ask and maybe get it answered on the podcast, drop me a line at brandingblitz.com/ask If you haven't done so yet, could you do me a favor and head over to iTunes to subscribe and leave a review. That'll help iTunes know I'm providing something helpful through this podcast, and I'd really appreciate it! That's it for this episode, I know it's easy to get overwhelmed by some of this especially when a lot of it has to do with confusing and unfamiliar acronyms and things we're normally trained not to have to think about as consumers, but I hope this has helped you understand barcodes, UPCs and FNSKUs. To keep with the theme, here's a couple more acronyms for you: TTFN and TTYL, I'll catch you next time on the Branding Blitz.
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