7 Figure Seller Summit

Archive Monthly Archives: June 2021

The 80/20 of Ecommerce – June 25, 2021

Amazon Prime Day 2021 breaks sales records even though less products were on “sale”

According to Adobe Analytics, “Overall, online spending during the two-day event surpassed $11 billion, a 6.1% increase compared to last year’s Prime Day held in October.”

However due to supply chain disruptions such as increased freight costs, less shipping capacity, and Amazon’s own restrictions on inventory for 3rd party sellers, many sellers were faced with less inventory than before.  As a result many sellers resisted offering deep discounts this Prime Day fearing running out of stock.

Prime Day sales were still robust however in what will be Jeff Bezos’ final Prime Day as CEO.  

How to Hire an Amazon VA Masterclass with Ana Santiago – Replay

One of the biggest mistakes sellers make as they grow and scale their business is hiring too late.

For established sellers that are running a profitable business, hiring VAs can be one of the best ways to unchain yourself from your business so you can work ON your business, not IN your business.  

I invited Ana Santiago from Outsource school to answer your top questions about How to Hire an Amazon VA. 

If you missed the live training, here’s the video replay where you will learn:

[10:22] How much money should I budget to hire them? 

[11:00] Do I need to hire them full-time? 

[16:02] Which country should you hire from and why? 

[19:16] How much to pay for VAs?

[21:10] How to build culture and relationships with VAs

[22:16] The importance of family

[23:40] The 3 types of VAs and which one you need

[26:02] What tasks should you hire VAs for? 

[28:52] Do you need to hire VAs full-time? 

[34:00] Stay away from decreasing hours

[34:30] How much does a VA cost

[36:02] The $1/hr VA

[39:10] How much should you spend on hiring VAs

[39:55] How do you start hiring – let’s do the math 

[42:45] What if VAs have multiple clients?

[46:32] How to reduce the risk of hiring a VA

[51:00] What VAs look for in clients 

[52:31] How to conduct interviews? Zoom vs Slack?

[57:40] After you hire them how do you manage them? 

As a special bonus, Ana offered a free consultation to help you and answer any questions you have about hiring an Amazon VA.

Book a call with her here: https://www.outsourceschool.com/consultation/

Spots are very limited. So book early to avoid disappointment.

Use coupon code and get 25% off Outsource School: 8020

Here are some things you may have missed from last week:

Have a great weekend!

Gary

PS: I am excited to announce that the award-winning 7 Figure Seller Summit will be coming back this August 16-20, 2021!  I am on a mission to create the best online event to help you build, scale and exit your Amazon and e-commerce business but I need your help.

Can you fill out this 5 min survey to share your challenges with your business? 

7FSS5 Pre-event Survey

The 80/20 of Ecommerce – June 18, 2021

Covid outbreaks in Chinese ports could cause global goods shortages 

There is a “Perfect Storm” brewing that is wreaking havoc on small business owners importing products from China.

According to The Guardian “an outbreak of Covid-19 in southern China has combined with the rapid reopening of the world economy and a shortage of shipping containers to cause a surge in transport costs that could fuel inflation and cause shortages of goods across the globe.” 

A number of ports in Guangdong province have been affected including Yantian, Shekou, and Nanshan as vessels are facing limitations in bookings and entering ports without prior reservations.  

It makes sense now to check with your forwarder and supplier if you have an upcoming shipment shipping from south China.  

Yantian Port in Shenzhen after a Covid outbreak in Guangdong. Photograph: Martin Pollard/Reuters

When Will Amazon Dethrone Walmart as the Revenue King?

Walmart has held the top spot again in revenue generation among publicly traded companies for about 20 years. The company generated about $560 billion in annual sales in fiscal 2021. The pandemic gave a huge boost to Walmart sales which nearly grew over 7% over the past year. 

While Amazon climbed through the ranks and reached the unofficial 2nd spot last year. But even though Amazon’s sales of $386 billion were well behind Walmart’s total, Amazon is growing much faster and could overcome Walmart’s sales sooner than we might think.

According to NASDAQ “Walmart has been in launch mode recently, particularly focused on its e-commerce initiative Walmart+, the company’s new consumer subscription program to challenge Amazon Prime. But Walmart’s digital sales only grew 37% in fiscal 2022’s first quarter (ended April 30), which doesn’t quite keep pace with Amazon’s sales growth over the same time period.”

To compare, if Walmart’s latest revenue total stays flat for the next year and grows 3% in fiscal 2023 (which effectively represents calendar 2022 sales), it would take in about $577 billion. That means even at the projected lows, Amazon should become the largest U.S. company by revenue by the end of 2022.

Here are some things you may have missed from last week:

Have a great weekend!

Gary

The 80/20 of Ecommerce – June 11, 2021

US ecommerce forecast revised upward, 18% growth expected in 2021 – Apparel and Home furnishings lead the way

The ecommerce growth trend is doing even better than expected so far in 2021. 

eMarketer has revised their 2021 ecommerce sales forecast up to 17.9% from a previous 13.7%. 

Reasons include the government stimulus at the start of the year as well as robust spending as the overall economy starts to reopen from the lockdowns during the pandemic.

A couple of retail high risers include Apparel which is forecast to grow by 28.7% and Home furnishings at 11.4%. 

Biden creates a supply chain “strike force” with sights set on China

According to Reuters, the US has created a “supply chain strike force… looking for specific violations that contributed to a hollowing out of supply chains that could be addressed with tariffs or other remedies, including toward China.”

The focus however is on products deemed critical to national security and safety including “neodymium magnets, semiconductors, transportation, as well as agriculture and food.”

The goal is to reduce US supply chain bottlenecks and over reliance on foreign supply chains which can be risky as seen during the pandemic.  

Biden also has stated that “China will not surpass the US as a global leader on his watch” so we shall see how this trade war pans out in the next 4 years.  

REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

Senate passes $250 billion bipartisan tech and manufacturing bill aimed at countering China

Last Tuesday, the Senate passed one of the largest industrial bills in U.S. history in a bipartisan effort to ensure the U.S. remains competitive with China as one of the globe’s technological powerhouses.

According to CNBC “The bill, which passed the chamber 68-32, commits roughly $250 billion in funding for scientific research, subsidies for chipmakers and robot makers, and an overhaul of the National Science Foundation.”

The bill paves the way for billions in new and replacement funding to spur the creation of new technology hubs across the United States, Additional investment in semiconductor research and manufacturing, and stand up a technology directorate at the National Science Foundation. There’s also a directive to the Commerce Department to create a new supply chain resiliency and crisis response program. New reporting requirements, and a response and recovery fund for local governments responding to cyber crises.

In short, this bill is about countering China by focusing on U.S. competitiveness. 

Here are some things you may have missed from last week:

The 80/20 of Ecommerce – June 4, 2021

Q1 2021, 55% of products sold on Amazon were marketplace sellers’ items. 

3rd party Amazon sellers continue to sell more as they now account for 55% of all products sold on Amazon.  

According to data from Amazon.com you can see a steady growth in the percentage or products sold on Amazon by 3rd party sellers.  

Several years ago, Jeff Bezos was quoted as saying that 3rd party sellers were “kicking our butt” but he doesn’t seem to mind as this is reducing the inventory risk that Amazon needs to take on.  It also gives Amazon valuable opportunities to capitalize on the advertising front (e.g Amazon PPC).  

And it gives Amazon valuable data in what products are selling well so they can focus on the high potential products in the while label line Amazon Basics.  

The Amazon FBA train continues to chug along!

Live Masterclass: Amazon Europe Expansion Post Brexit in 2021

Jérôme de Guigné, the Founder and Managing Director of e-Comas. Making eCommerce simple. He is an Amazon expert with 20 years of experience in brand management and distribution, and an inside-out knowledge of how Amazon works.

In this 60-min training, you will learn:

[3:00] Europe is bigger than US market

[5:01] Understanding Europe

[8:00] Nav Europe is complex

[12:35] The Fulfillment Options

[13:30] Fulfillment options

[16:47] VAT

[32:50] Our Recommendation

Book a call with E-Comas to get more help on Amazon EU expansion. www.e-comas.com/calendar

Exciting news. The next 7 Figure Seller Summit will launch August 16th to 20th. More details coming soon.

I really want to make this the best summit so far and we want to make it as valuable to you as possible. That’s why I’d love to get your feedback. If you can fill this short survey, it would really help my team and I create the best event we can to help you with your Amazon and Ecom business! https://forms.gle/HouPfqTY5du7KRsv8

Here are some things you may have missed from last week: