This week is all about Headline Search Ads, another popular topic of Season 1. We had a great and insightful interview with Will Haire, one of our PPC Managers here at Bobsled Marketing, and in this episode, we shared with you 4 ways to optimize Headline Search Ads. If you didn’t get the chance to listen to this episode, go ahead and tune in today.

Don’t forget to tune in next week when we are back to our regular schedule with brand new episodes starting in the first week of July.

We are dedicating the entire month of June to a podcast season rewind! This week we are sharing with you “How Small Brands Manage Rapid Growth on Amazon” - an episode with Dan Menk, one of the founding members of inVitamin.

Dan shared with us some great insights about how inVitamin handled rapid growth, what are the positive and the negative sides of a product going viral and how the brand is planning to manage its strategy going forward.

We are dedicating the entire month of June to a podcast season rewind! This week we are sharing with you “How Much Do Backend Keywords Matter to Amazon SEO?” - an episode with our PPC Manager & Keyword Expert Stefan Jordev.

This is a very interesting topic and we receive a lot of questions about Backend Keywords, so if you haven’t had the chance to listen, tune in right now - Stefan has some great insights!

Why Amazon Reviews Matter - Season Rewind

We are dedicating the entire month of June to a season rewind! We will be rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes over the last 6 months and we hope you’ll enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed discussing these very interesting topics.

First on the list is “How to Get Product Reviews” - our most popular episode and a great discussion about the importance of Amazon reviews in building a strong brand.

While this podcast predominantly covers online retail channels, we decided to venture out into the rapidly changing brick and mortar retail industry. With us on the show today is Joel Goldstein, President of Mr. Checkout Distributors LLC. He is the author of Amazon’s best selling book Start From Success, and host of RetailSummit.live. Focused on the retail sector, Joel is able to advise brands on where their product will be best received.

Joel has contributed to Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc. and regularly is used as a retail industry expert on Fox News. Joel has the experience needed to develop an actionable go-to-market strategy, placing a product on retail shelves nationwide in independent stores and with major retailers.

Today, Joel is going to share his perspective on the outlook for brick and mortar retailers as well as the most common pitfalls for brands that want to move physically into the stores. Joel predicts that the future of brick and mortar retail is exclusivity. Online retail is no substitute for the impulse buyers or for consumers who do not already know what they want. If a brand would like to branch out away from online retail, they should look into independent retailers, rather than big box stores and wholesalers. 

Because of the added costs and the difference in consumer trends from online to brick and mortar, brands should do their homework and make sure product will move from the shelves. Joel has plenty of advice on how to make the most of the brick and mortar transition and is optimistic on the whole about the industry. He believes that in-person purchasing will look very different in the near future, and brands should consider carefully before making the move.  

 

Key Takeaways 

•    Many of Joel’s clients start as online businesses that want to move into a brick and mortar space. 

•    Joel’s perspective on the future of the distributing industry is one of specialization and exclusivity. 

•    How the retail space has changed over the years. 

•    Impulse purchasing is growing rapidly.

•    Micro-markets are expanding.

•    Common pitfalls for brands moving into the Brick and Mortar space. 

•    Set your price point with a wide margin. 

•    The difference between a broker and a distributor. 

•    When a brand should look at a big box distributor. 

•    What we could learn from Whole Foods. 

 

Resources from the Show:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/3710653

Joel Goldstein on LinkedIn

joelgoldstein.com

 

In this episode of the podcast, Julie and Noelle offer up their key takeaways and insights from a previous interview with Juozas (Joe) Kaziukėnas, founder of Marketplace Pulse. Joe founded Marketplace Pulse with the idea to use data to educate and inform “behind the scenes’ businesses in the online retail space. Marketplace Pulse offers services that help predict user trends. Joe is an absolutely wonderful resource, and he has plenty to share with the podcast audience about how to use data wisely. 

 

Kiri had the chance to sit down with Joe and glean some data-driven insights about international markets and competing in online retail platforms. For Joe, the two biggest factors for success in the international marketplace is fulfillment and advertising. Both of these endeavors require a financial investment, so his advice to smaller brands is to focus on online platforms where they know they can turn a profit. This led Kiri and Joe to an interesting discussion about eBay and Walmart, as well as how brands can do well for themselves as a 1P seller on Amazon. 

 

Joe’s best advice is to be selective and drive sales. It is not a matter of listing a product and letting some “Amazon Magic” take hold. Instead, a targeted approach with a clear eye on the cost of sales will be the most effective for any brand. The proof is in the data. 

 

Key Takeaways 

•    Joe gives us his vision for what Marketplace Pulse can be for “behind the scenes” businesses. 

•    Discover the ways Marketplace Pulse data can be most useful. 

•    It takes time for the data to begin illuminating trends. 

•    Marketplace Pulse wants to be clear about how it acquires its data. 

•    Sell in as few places as possible, especially if you are a smaller brand. 

•    You have to commit to selling internationally. 

•    Brands should look into eBay and Walmart, but make sure your products will be successful there. 

•    Ebay is still managing to fit into the future. 

•    First party sellers are still a large and growing demographic on Amazon. 

•    Brands that launch on Amazon are thriving because they are invested in selling the product.

 

Resources from the Show 

Marketplace Pulse 

https://www.marketplacepulse.com/

Smaller online retail brands face a unique set of ecommerce challenges. Today, we are sitting down with Dan Menk, one of the founding members of inVitamin. inVitamin is devoted to creating all natural wellness products at an affordable price. Dan is going to share how the inVitamin brand has handled rapid growth, and what they are doing to continue that growth well into the future.  

 

Ever wondered what happens when a product goes viral? Dan is going to share both the positive and the negative side of internet fame.  From keeping up with fulfillment to maximizing profits across multiple channels, Dan has the small business perspective that we need. In order for a company like inVitamin to reach over 30 countries, they had to use innovation and creative problem solving to maintain a strong brand presence. 

 

Key Takeaways

• Dan tells us all about inVitamin and the grassroots approach to business. 
• inVitamin began as an online retailer only. 
• How Dan is trying to offer a more robust offering for customers on Amazon. 
• Expanding on listings has been a key approach for inVitamin. 
• Since inVitamin is not a large company, keeping up with supply channels has been a real challenge. 
• What happens when a product goes viral. 
• There are many good things on the horizon for inVitamin, and they are trying to grow well. 
• The logistics of working with overseas customers. 

 

Resources

https://www.invitamin.com/

Conferences are a fantastic opportunity to meet people with a unique perspective on ecommerce. Today is the last of our Catalyst Channel Advisor Conference interviews with Michael Zakkour. Michael is the Vice President of China/APAC & Global eCommerce Practices at Thompkins Intl. We had the privilege of attending Michael’s lecture on Chinese “Super Consumers,” which explains the staggeringly rapid growth of the Chinese upper class. In this podcast, Michael is going to expand on how brands are reaching super consumers in China, and how counterfeiting is such an issue for the global marketplace. 

There are nearly 1 billion Chinese “Super Consumers.” That is quite a market! Brands should expect Chinese consumers to behave differently than those in Western markets. Michael’s insights into this group will be invaluable for any brands hoping to make it in the Chinese markets. Michael will address how brands should approach this opportunity, and where have brands failed before. Michael also has many interesting stories about how the wealthy Chinese consumer is evolving, including unique insights on New Retail. His perspective is not one we have been able to share on the show so far, so we know you will enjoy a few new insights from this interview.  

Key Takeaways 

• Michael tells us how he came to be an expert on Chinese retail space. 
• Why ecommerce channels are irrelevant in China. 
• Chinese travelers are spending globally. 
• What is New Retail, and how is it different from omnichannel?  
• The first New Retail experience the world has ever seen. 
• Brick-and-mortar is now being reimagined by digital native brands. 
• We are missing the experience pillar of retail. 
• How to figure out the cultural barriers of reaching the Chinese Super Consumer. 
• Understand the big ecosystems that exist in China. 
• Invest in Chinese students in the U.S. 
• What measures have been made by Amazon and Alibaba to stop counterfeit products. 
• There is no such thing as a staggered launch. 
• What brands can learn from Pizza Hut and how they adapted their business model to Chinese pillars of retail. 
• Michael’s predictions about who will own the ecommerce space. 

This week on the podcast, we have another illuminating interview from the Catalyst Conference. Our guest, Jessica Lesesky, is representing Charles & Colvard, a jewelry brand who occupies a unique niche in the jewelry market. This was a really great interview because it gave us a chance to dive into all the work Jessica does with digital marketing, and how Charles & Colvard found their brand story. It is an interesting case study in how a brand can evolve as they gain a better understanding of their consumer base. 

 

Charles & Colvard has a unique manufactured diamond product called Moissanite. Jessica will explain how, surprisingly, many of their consumers were not buying the manufactured diamonds for price, but for ethical reasons. Charles & Colvard has discovered an emerging consumer trend of ethical jewelry purchasing, and so they used this as fuel for their direct-to-consumer initiative. Jessica will share how the brand is also utilizing various sales channels, including a strong wholesale business to designers and manufacturers. Their online store sells directly to consumers, which makes Charles & Colvard a wonderful example of the power of ecommerce. 

 

Jessica will also share with us her precious professional history, including a wonderful look at what it is like to work at eBay. You will learn a lot from Jessica’s diverse experiences in this episode! 

 

Key Takeaways:

•    Understand the unique ethical stance that Charles & Colvard has taken in the jewelry market. 

•    How the direct-to-consumer model was a necessity to the Charles & Colvard brand. 

•    Jessica shares her experience with eBay. 

•    The strategies to get brands out of the brick-and-mortar seasonality. 

•    Charles & Colvard has a robust distribution model that has ties to wholesale and direct-to-consumer. 

•    Everything Charles & Colvard does is devoted to the mission of less waste and incredible value. 

•    Jessica describes the priorities for international market penetration. 

•    Charles & Colvard is looking forward to distributing whole products, rather than just gemstones. 

•    Jessica explains the company’s relationship to Amazon as a 3rd party seller with seller-fulfilled Prime. 

•    The intricacies of selling jewelry on Amazon. 

•    Jessica’s advice for brands who are looking to utilize seller-fulfilled Prime. 

•    Consumers are more excited to tell others that their gem is Moissanite. 

•    Jessica shares her favorite Moissanite pieces.

 

Resources:

https://www.charlesandcolvard.com/

In the rapidly changing world of retail, it can be difficult for a brand to figure out a profitable ecommerce strategy. As our guest, Dave Madoch, would say, “Retail is tough. If you watch Shark Tank, there’s a reason why they run from retail.” Despite the obvious marketplace challenges for toy retailers, Toynk has paved the way for innovation. Dave is the Director of Ecommerce for Toynk Toys. Toynk was founded in 2001 when several friends left the corporate grind to form a company focused on fun products. 

 

Toynk is reaching customers through just about every avenue imaginable. They have a few brick-and-mortar locations and utilize over 20 online retail platforms, including Amazon. Another unique (and highly profitable) avenue for Toynk has been selling at ComiCons across the globe. This hybrid approach to retail seems to be working well for Toynk, but this success was not without its challenges. Dave is going to dive into some of the unique logistics and marketing challenges that Toynk has faced over the past 17 years of business. Retails brands will have a lot to learn from Dave and the folks at Toynk. Today’s episode will prove to be a fascinating case study for anyone invested in ecommerce and the online economy. 

 

Show Takeaways 

•    Dave shares how he got his start at Toynk. 

•    How Toynk has almost converted from entirely online to “bring-and-mortar.” 

•    Toynk is almost too Amazon heavy. 

•    Learn all about the Amazon services that Toynk employs. 

•    Speed to market is essential for toys. 

•    The evolution of the toy licensing process. 

•    Discover all of Toynk’s international influences. 

•    Advice for retailers developing a brand. 

•    Dave shares some of the most surprising bestselling toys.