My Amazon Guy

Send us Fan Mail

What's going with Amazon operations ahead of Q4? Today, we attended a virtual presentation by Amazon’s head of worldwide supply chain Devesh Mishra, who is a 15-year Amazon veteran, and provided perspective and information on how Amazon is managing operations ahead of the Q4 peak season, new investments in supply chains and operations, and support of FBA/3P sellers. Key highlights are included below.

·        Key highlights from Amazon's keynote presentation/VP of WW Supply Chain Devesh Mishra. Bottom line, Amazon is working quickly to better handle the expected unprecedented seasonal demand in Q4, using advanced data/machine learning capabilities, as well as rapid new investments in infrastructure. We note these investments will weigh on margins and cash flow a bit in Q3/Q4, but should help the company adapt to changing supply/demand dynamics longer term. Per the keynote...

o   Never seen as much disruption to worldwide supply chains as in last few months. This Q4 will be very different than any other he’s seen, and global supply remains uncertain, with lead times from shipment creation to delivery more than doubling.

o   FC are backed up. Inbound volumes are higher than demand ahead of the holidays. However, due to process changes, they are now seeing improvements in receive times and delivery speeds. Amazon is piloting new incremental storage facilities upstream from FCs to add capacity and manage inventory flows.

o   Data, data, data. Company is using feedback from customers and sellers, as well as AI/Machine learning, to make real-time changes to the supply chain. Specifically, machine learning is adapting Amazon’s inventory forecasting model, modifying for changing demand patterns, and local mobility data to adjust inventory. Amazon already predicts product-level demand for essentially any product worldwide. As such, they know what inventory to stock, and where to place that inventory close to customers.

o   Amazon is adding 33 new FCs this year, and will have 35 million cubic feet of new capacity for holiday 2020, along with the additional employees.

o   Amazon will also have 80 cargo planes in the fleet by next year. Amazon also purchased 20k delivery vehicles for the Delivery Service Partner program, and has 100k electric delivery vehicles on order.

o   Amazon is expanding X-border logistics and transportation — to enable more sellers to sell globally; in addition, Amazon is managing the end-to-end supply chain from manufacturers through to end-customers. As such, 3P sellers can now book, manage, track, and pay for ocean and air cargo services directly from Amazon from China to U.S. and Europe.

o   Introducing a new program, Amazon Inventory Manager — Amazon creates and manages shipping plans and inventory management on behalf of sellers, which in turn makes this inventory eligible for Prime 1-day or same day shipping.


Get Amazon Consulting at https://myamazonguy.com/

#amazonselling #amazonseller #amazonfba

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Paul's technology and Amazon app background is impressive. Not only did he start the first automated email software for Amazon called Feedback Genius, he spun off Snagshout and Massview. We sit down and talk about technology, external traffic on Amazon, Walmart, and his own fitness business he sells on Amazon.

How are you launching Amazon products right now?

• Look at the highest keyword volumes, low reviews.

Why use Mass View. What is Massview and why did you build it?

• Lower cost than Helium 10 or Jungle Scout
• Reverse ASIN data 
• Aggregate review data
• Facebook chat bot. 
  • Convert people for less than $1 per sale.
  • Collect email address
• How is it possible to start a new brand on Amazon in todays competitive market?

Larger platforms like Facebook can get bigger chunk of niche audience

Paul is an Amazon Seller

• Paul is in fitness category. Was sued after engineering around patent. 

How to get into Walmart?

• Find rep. Show them  your Amazon listing and reviews.
• Get into brick and mortar

Scaling a company

• GIve people 
  • Autonomy
  • Purpose

What makes your heart sing?

• Love seeing new products come ot life.
• Cooking or making food.

Reach out to Paul Johnson directly at [email protected]

What type of sales should we plan for Q4.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

So, one of Steven's clients sells sporting goods rope and tie-downs for like boats and kayaks BUT someone decided to use the rope for Japanese sexual bondage and then included a photo on their five-star Amazon review and because of this one review Amazon changed the product category from sporting goods to "Adult" and Steven's client is now freaking out 😅

He's having his employees file tickets with Amazon seller support to adjust it. Amazon is like an evil overly powerful AI that can just suddenly ruin people's lives. This wasn't a person who changed the product category to adult from sporting goods, it was an algorithm. Like, how does a small business know how to deal with random crap like that without help from an agency like ours? 

A couple weeks, a single mom with a special needs son called Steven because her product was suddenly suspended from Amazon with no explanation. That was her entire income suddenly gone. It turned out she had one advertising keyword in violation. Steven had her back up in 24 hours.

Supplements

• Shark Cartilage
• Made with meat from China

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Josh Gilliam, Owner of Coletti Coffee, who is Army Chaplain in Germany selling on Amazon.com in the US sits down to talk about his experiences and how religions and business go together.

So you are an army chaplain... Why did you go into business?

• What has religion taught you that you apply to business?
• Does moving around a lot in the army affect running your ecom business?
• Sizing up your day.
  • Decide what I can tackle today to win, beat anxiety.
  • Pray over things.

So not only are you a family man, you hold a full time job, AND you side hustle an ecommerce business. How do you balance everything and would you recommend others attempt the same feat? 

• Josh has 8 kids and one on the way (6 girls and 2 boys).

What mistakes have you made that others can learn from?

• Over the last 5 years, there’s been a lot of times I’ve wanted to quit.
• Lost $25,000 bank theft.

What decisions did you make that have paid off and you would recommend others to follow?

• Creating SOPs
• Networking
• Listen to podcasts

Where do you want to take the business? Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

• Fund a commission, getting the good news of forgiveness around the world.
• Million dollars a year to that cause. Committed to giving all profit to charity.

If you want to get in touch with Josh for any reason: josh @ coletticoffe.com

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

This list of questions comes from Quiet Light Brokerage to help their audience learn how to better sell on Amazon.

1. What you need to start an Amazon FBA business? (This is obviously pretty broad; I think it could be useful to break this down into different subsections — time commitment, business experience, etc.)
2. How to find profitable Amazon FBA business ideas/products that won’t require a large budget to launch?
3. How to allocate your budget? (e.g. what % of your budget should be dedicated to purchasing inventory, advertising, giveaways, etc.)
4. How to get reviews? Are paid programs like Alpha Raven House risky or legit?
5. Is there a “minimum” budget that people should have in order to start an Amazon business?
6. Recommended resources for learning about Amazon FBA?
7. How to advertise your Amazon FBA business inexpensively?
8. Examples of successful Amazon businesses that were started with a small budget?
9. How does Amazon FBA work? 


Get Amazon Consulting at https://myamazonguy.com/

#QuietLightBrokerage #amazonseller #amazonfba

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Adam Wilkens owner of Dotcomreps and author of Selling on Amazon: How to Sell on Amazon for Beginners. He has 12 years of experience selling on Amazon.

Current Events with Data Bugs:

• Case issues
• Catalog team not accessible
  • Hard to find a webcam in USA
• Brand Registry fragmented
• Seller support hanging up on you - going to voicemail after 20 min hold times.
• Trademarks and brand registries are case sensitive.
  • Avoid generic brand names
• Pesticides (Pass the test with answer key here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRbsQvqV3t0)
  • Can’t use words
    • Anti
    • Bacteria
    • Mold
    • Mildew
• A+ Content
  • Can't use claims in it
  • The word "healthy" got banned 
• Amazon asks for compliance they know nothing about

Books

• Links to books: 
  • Selling on Amazon: How to Sell on Amazon for Beginners.
  • Become a Best Seller on Amazon.
• Designs for brand owner
• Control of content, pricing, reporting, stock
• How to operate Seller Central

Quick tips:

• Fastest way to grow sales? Ads
• Favorite ad type: Video Ads
• SEO Hack: Redundancy of words, grammar, variant of same words helps SEO

Dot Com Reps https://www.linkedin.com/company/dotcomreps-llc/
https://www.dotcomreps.com/

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

What are the secrets to sourcing products? Today we talk to an expert who will reveal his 7 secrets. Norman Farrar is a entrepreneur who provides online marketing and managed eCommerce solutions for brands. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz and 20th Century Fox. Since the early 1990s, Norman has focused on helping entrepreneurs optimize their operations and unlock their business’s potential.

• Pay my tax - experience is key to sourcing.
• Inspection and broker nightmare story - liner on wipes was not in place. 4 containers wasted.
• Buy a factory if you can.
• Secret 1 Never contact online suppliers
  • Alibaba is a broker.
    • 5 brokers are bad.
    • 30% tax foreigner
  • No manufacturer will talk to you directly for 1000 units MOQ.
  • Brokers are good - but only for beginners
• Secret 2 Do not pay or get quotes in USD
  • Increases 5-20% extra due to hedge due to RMB fluctuation
  • Sending money through bank - foreign exchange company like seller funding can be very beneficial and saves cost.
• Secret 3 Know when to negotiate your prices.
  • Don’t negotiate packaging or insert.
  • Negotiate the product pricing. Then talk packaging. Can bring packaging to manufacturer.
  • Store extra packaging at manufacturer if needed.
  • Tell them I’m shopping around and go silent.
    • “I talked to my manager and they approved an extra 7 cents”
• Secret 4 EXW, I’ll take care of it, instead of FOB
  • EXW works 
  • FOB costs 30% more
  • Talk to freight forwarder that’s what you want to pickup.
• Secret 5 - Supplier is not a Shipper
  • They will use their buddy.
  • Never use a site for instant shipping quotes
    • Hidden fees
• Secret 6 - HTS Code
  • Harmonized tariff system
  • Save money with proper code. 
  • Example: Magnetic tape 4.9% + 25% in duty classification cost $2400 + $13,000. Reclassified 2.1% truthfully saving $14,500. 
  • Was classified under aluminum. We looked at it and reclassified as item displayed as warning.
• Secret 7  - Inspections - HAVE ONE
  • Cost is low $300 or less.
  • Inspect agent doesn’t know what to look for, give them instruction. 
  • Example: Skateboard - inspector had to test going left, right, pulling.
• Bonus Secret- Consolidate Samples
  • Save a couple hundred bucks in shipping costs.
• Packaging - wooden box can drastically increase value.
• BIGGEST Golden nugget - Think about how you communicate. In states we use Purchase Orders or POs. In China POs are paper. Pro forma protects you - molds being reused by manufacturer. .
  • Acceptable defect rate in Pro forma for credit.
  • Who owns the product?
  • Molds
• Get in contact with Norm for product development, sourcing, honuworldwide.com
  • Or email Norm at [email protected]
  • https://honuworldwide.com/product-sourcing/
• Future of manufacturing, coming to the states any time soon?

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

• Virtual Bundles - Out. Recommend ignoring.
• Video advertising - In, hottest thing to do right now.
• NARF - remote fulfillment, may be coming out of beta in next 2 weeks. Keep an eye out if you haven’t gotten access yet, you might soon. This is shipping out of USA FBA into Canada and Mexico for an easy 3% sales growth.
• Custom Brand Headline ads - still under tapped.
• Display ads - category targeting still a great under tapped area.
• Negative keywords - why do agencies still ignore this?

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Ola Gambari is a co-owner of a million dollar empire Fresher Products with brands Hungry Fan, Arctic Chill, Grillhogs, and more. Today we talk to Ola about his journey. What went right, what went wrong, and how he built his 7-figure business. www.hungryfan.com

• Ola as I understand it you’re an actual Nigerian Prince? 
• Is Amazon passive income for you?
• Tell me your Amazon journey.
  • Started one sku out of China. Hungry Fan - tailgating.
• What went right?
  • Hiring My Amazon Guy
  • Inventory management
  • High quality products
• What went wrong?
  • Keyword management - incumbency got beat eventually.
• How do you beat your competition
  • Better products
  • Thicker molds
• Next for Fresher Products
  • Improving packaging.
  • More products.
  • Brand building
• Keeping sane during COVID
  • Trail mix
• Big changes coming?
  • Amazon monopoly will have to stop doing anti-fair marketplace practices.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Your inbox should be at 0 unread each day. This podcast talks about the organizational strategy behind a zero unread inbox.

• Organization
• Won’t miss anything
• Create templates for copy and paste
• Intro
• Calendar setups - calendly
• Filters
• Mark as read and dump into a label
• Auto spam 
• Don’t use email folders to retrieve information.

Fast Company: “REFRAME THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR INBOX
Quick: Look at your inbox and see how many messages have been sitting there for 24 hours or more. If the answer is anything other than “zero,” it’s time to step back and reevaluate your strategy for managing email.

When you stop and think about it, it’s actually pretty obvious: Having a giant list of pending messages in your face all the time isn’t an effective method of organization. How often do you lose track of emails or realize you never got around to taking care of something you meant to handle several days ago? Being visually overwhelmed tends to lead to those sorts of issues rather than efficiency.

That doesn’t mean you have to answer every email immediately, of course. For most of us, that’d be impractical. It just means you have to make it your goal to deal with every email in some way soon after you see it.

For every email you encounter, choose from the following fast-triage options:

• If a message requires no action on your behalf, archive it immediately.
• If a message requires a simple reply that you can knock out in a minute or less, respond right then and there—and then archive it immediately.
• If a message requires some level of thought or response that you can’t get to right away, snooze it to a time and date when you will be able to handle it—whether it’s later that same day, sometime the following week, or on a Friday two months down the road. That’ll get the message out of your way so it doesn’t serve as a constant source of distraction. And then it will reappear and grab your attention when the time is right.”

#zeroinbox #organization #efficiency #tools

Support the show