Archive Monthly Archives: May 2021
The 80/20 of Ecommerce – May 28, 2021
Amazon Prime Day 2021 expected to be June 21 and 22
According to a report by Bloomberg, “Amazon.com’s Prime Day sale will be held June 21 and 22”.
Last year Prime Day was moved to October due to COVID, but this year it has returned to its regular summer date.
If you’re a seller, expect A LOT of promotional opportunities to slash prices (which may not necessarily be a good thing). And I also expect a lot of competition between sellers.
Mark your calendars!
India COVID Charity Fundraiser continues
As Covid has left the nation of India in grief, my friends Meghla, Margaret & Kevin from India Sourcing Network hosted a virtual “Charity Singathon” in collaboration with Deepalaya, a non-profit organization in Delhi. The event is to help raise funds to help underprivileged families affected by COVID in India.
They have already raised over $9,000 and have a goal of $20k to help needy families and children purchase food and sanitation kits.
If you can contribute anything at all it would be a great help. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the charity and families in need.
Stay safe and Thank you!
Live Training on 3 Ways to Deploy Capital to Scale your Ecommerce Business
Tomo Matsuo is the President of Yardline Capital, a provider of growth capital, business tools, and competitive insights for sellers on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify and more.
In this 60-min training, you will learn:
[8:55] Finding the optimal capital allocation among different opportunities [11:00] The Growth Capital Math [17:20] Tips for sellers for managing cash flows to ensure optimal inventory levels [19:05] Beware having too much capital as you also have to take on too much risk [20:35] Cash flow management and supply chain [22:55] Storing extra inventory in 3PLs vs shipping directly from the manufacturer [25:42] IPI score is like your credit score; the better the score, the beter the sellers [32:18] Recommendations in deploying capital into marketing [38:20] Expanding horizontally from Amazon [48:09] Hiring people once you get to a certain scaleHere are some things you may have missed from last week:
The 80/20 of Ecommerce – May 21, 2021
Google partners with Shopify on online shopping expansion
Google and Shopify are joining forces in the world of ecommerce.
According to Techcrunch, “Google today announced it’s partnering with Shopify, giving the e-commerce platform’s more than 1.7 million merchants the ability to reach consumers through Google Search and its other services. The integration will allow merchants to sign up in just a few clicks to have their products appear across Google’s 1 billion “shopping journeys” that take place every day through Search, Maps, Images, Lens and YouTube”
They didn’t reveal the details of the partnership, but we do know that Google and Shopify are tightening the competition against Amazon in the e-commerce and advertising markets.
Investors were happy with the Shopify news and shortly after Google’s announcement, the stock grew 3.52%.
Amazon’s ads business is generating nearly $7 billion a quarter, and growth is accelerating (CNBC)
Amazon sellers know that to be successful you have to “Pay to Play” in the Amazon Advertising or “PPC” world.
This was evident as Amazon “smashed” analysts’ expectation as they posted that “Amazon’s “Other” unit, which is primarily made up of advertising but also includes sales related to other service offerings, grew revenue 77% year over year to more than $6.9 billion”.
“The digital advertising hot streak aided by stay-at-home trends has evidently lasted into the first quarter as travel starts to return and e-commerce spend persists, with companies such as Facebook and Alphabet seeing blowout results for their ads businesses.”
India Charity Singathon for underprivileged families affected by COVID in India
As you may have heard India is suffering from the effects of a triple mutant strain of COVID-19 and this is affecting the manufacturing and supply chain not to mention the lives of many many people.
My good friends Meghla, Margaret & Kevin from India Sourcing Network are organizing an 8-hour live & virtual “Charity Singathon” to help raise funds to help underprivileged families affected by COVID in India.
They are partnering with Deepalaya, a non-profit organization in Delhi.
Over 15 singers from the US, Australia, UK, India, Singapore, and The Philippines will be performing at the event to support the families affected by COVID in India.
I’d love to invite you to join me in supporting this cause if you can by viewing and sharing this Charity Singathon.
Fri, May 21, 8 pm EST
Press “Going” on the event link to receive a notification when the Singathon is live: https://www.facebook.com/events/949460862554207/
And if you can, please consider making a donation to this charity – 100% of the funds are going to the charity organization to help the children and families affected by the pandemic.
Here’s where you can donate to contribute to the cause: https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/projects/deepalayas-mission-food-and-sanitisation-kits-for-the-needy
How to Boost your Amazon FBA Profits and Cash Flow so you Can Maximize your Exit (Replay)
Recently, I invited Don Henig, Kelliane Fedio, and Jeremy Bell for a LIVE ASK ME ANYTHING Session with Don, Kelliane, and Jeremy, where they answered questions on increasing your Amazon’s business profitability, cash flow, and exiting it for the maximum price.
In this 60-min AMA session, you will learn:
- How to prepare your Amazon business for an Amazing exit
- What it takes to grow your business
- How to exit at your peak to maximize valuation
- What makes a great Amazon business for acquisition
- How to make your business irresistible to acquirors
- What drives the valuation / multiple up
- How to maintain adequate levels of inventory prior and after sale
- When is the right time to sell your Amazon business
- Why 2021 is a great year to sell your Amazon business
- Why it’s so important to plan your Amazon business exit
- The 3 things that you must do today to plan/maximize your exit
- Common mistakes that will cost you big
Here are some things you may have missed from last week:
The 80/20 of Ecommerce – May 14, 2021
I’m taking a “spring break” with my family this week so it will be a short newsletter.
Here’s what I’m reading:
Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone
Just released this week is the latest biography on Jeff Bezos and how he grew Amazon from an online bookstore to an ecommerce juggernaut it is today.
If you’re selling products on Amazon it makes to know the story behind how the marketplace was built and how the founder built and scaled it to over a trillion dollars.
“In Amazon Unbound, Brad Stone presents a deeply reported, vividly drawn portrait of how a retail upstart became one of the most powerful and feared entities in the global economy. Stone also probes the evolution of Bezos himself—who started as a geeky technologist totally devoted to building Amazon, but who transformed to become a fit, disciplined billionaire with global ambitions; who ruled Amazon with an iron fist, even as he found his personal life splashed over the tabloids.”
Here are some things you may have missed from last week:
The 80/20 of Ecommerce – May 7, 2021
India manufacturing is hurting from the recent Covid spikes
According to my personal anecdotal evidence, many businesses and manufacturers in India are hurting due to the recent Covid 19 spikes hitting the country of nearly 1.2 billion people.
One sourcing agent I spoke to this week told me that 70% of the manufacturers he works with in India are closed down. This means that it’s causing a ripple effect if you’re sourcing product from India in two ways.
First expect longer delivery times. Factories are focused on fulfilling orders they already have on hand rather than looking to take on new orders which they may not be able to handle due to lack of manpower and raw materials.
Second – you may expect higher prices. For example certain metals such as copper have seen raw materials price double in the recent months. Besides the global spike in copper prices, another factor is the lack of industrial oxygen available to manufacturers who use this to treat the metal. Currently there is a lack of oxygen available to hospitals so all of the supply has been shifted towards medical needs.
When will things return to pre-Covid levels? It remains to be seen. Optimists have said that they expect things to get back on track in June or July. We will see.
Shopify rides online shopping wave to crush profit, revenue estimates
In ecommerce, Amazon may be king, but a rising tide lifts all boats.
Shopify which is a popular platform to create your own ecommerce website “emerged as a pandemic winner with revenue soaring 86% last year from 2019 and shares nearly doubling to make it Canada’s most valuable firm” according to U.S News and World Report.
Ygal Arounian said, “Shopify saw real strength again during the (1st) quarter, and with total volume growth on the platform accelerating from 4Q, it’s clear their role in the retail ecosystem continues to get stronger,”.
5 Game-Changing Opportunities with Amazon PPC with Ritu Java (Replay)
Many of you have told me that managing and running profitable Amazon PPC campaigns is your #1 challenge.
That’s why I invited Ritu Java who helps 6, 7, and 8 Figure Amazon sellers make more money by creating and optimizing their Amazon PPC Campaigns to give you a masterclass on the 5 Game-Changing Opportunities with Amazon PPC in 2021.
In this 63 min training you will learn:
[19:48] 2 Easiest PPC campaigns to run first [21:50] Biggest Mistake sellers make: less is better [23:38] Video ads have CTR 4x to 5x (2%) more than regular ad (0.5%) [28:47] How You can accelerate the algorithms association [29:38] When I launch a new product, which ad type should I run [30:36] Ritu’s PPC Launch recommendation w/ 20-30 campaigns [33:41] One of the Most important Data points: Unit session percentage – AKA Conversion Rate [37:24] Brand Analytics – data Amazon gives brands about all the KWs [38:30] Common mistake – put too many strings in searches [41:50] Do we stop PPC if there are enough Organic sales? [47:15] Do we target long-tail keywords or highly competitive main keywords? [49:35] How long to run auto campaigns for?If you’d like to learn more about PPC, Ritu will offer a LIVE 3 week PPC workshop on May 12, 19, and 26th hosted by yours truly.
- Live 3-Week PPC Workshop and Q&A Plus Replay with Ritu Java
- May 12, 19 and 26, 9PM EST (2 hours x 3 sessions)
- Deadline: Tues, May 11th, 11:59PM PST
You will learn:
Day 1: Campaign Fundamentals
Amazon ad types
Setting up an Auto campaign
Deep dive into match types – Broad, phrase, exact match
Bids and budgets – How much to bid and how to budget
Day 2: Campaign Management
Learn efficient ways of designing your campaigns
Setting up a manual campaign
Negative keywords
Fundamentals of Bid Management
Day 3: Troubleshooting the PPC Funnel
Key performance indicators for PPC
Ad type diversification:
- Product Targeting Ads
- Category Targeting Ads
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Display
- Video in Search – Understand why this is currently the most effective ad type on Amazon
Join here: https://www.8020sourcing.com/ppc-workshop/