John Merris is the President and CEO of Solo Stove, a company that specializes in ultra-efficient wood-burning camp stoves, fire pits, and grills. John and his team at Solo Stove design simple, ingenious outdoor products to help customers create good moments that become lasting memories.

Prior to Solo Stove, John worked at a number of product companies in senior financial, operational, and business development roles. He is an expert in sales, revenue acceleration, change management, and product development.

One of the reasons many e-commerce brand owners refuse to join Amazon is to avoid hurting their brand. However, according to John Merris, there are some tried-and-true strategies for selling on the marketplace that will protect your brand both on and off of Amazon.

As John says, one of these methods is providing a great—and consistent—experience to both Amazon and non-Amazon customers. This means that important elements of your brand, such as pricing, messaging, and unboxing, should remain the same on every channel. By putting the customer experience first every time, you can successfully boost the credibility, revenue, and reach of your brand.

In this week's episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, John Merris, the President and CEO of Solo Stove, joins James Thomson to talk about the strategies brands can use to protect themselves when selling both on and off of Amazon. John explains how his brand positions itself on the Amazon marketplace, what he does to ensure consistent messaging across different channels, and his future plans for Solo Stove. Stay tuned.

Lesley Hensell is the Co-founder, Co-owner, and Partner of Riverbend Consulting, where she oversees the firm's client services team. Riverbend Consulting helps Amazon sellers with account and ASIN reinstatements and provides detailed consulting services for operations and fulfillment. 

In her role at Riverbend Consulting, Lesley has personally helped hundreds of third-party sellers get their accounts and ASINs back up and running. She also leverages two decades of experience as a small business consultant to advise clients on profitability and operational performance. In addition to this, Lesley has run an Amazon 3P seller business for more than a decade.

As an Amazon seller, one of the worst things that can happen to your business is your account being suspended due to product complaints or misconduct. A blocked or suspended account or listing will cause you to lose income, profit, and essential growth for your brand. So, in such cases, what can you do to get your account reinstated?

According to Lesley Hensell, Partner at Riverbend Consulting, there are three key areas that Amazon expects you to address when writing a plan of action to reinstate your account. These include determining the root cause of the issue, solving the problem, and preventing it from ever happening again. While some types of account problems can be handled by sellers themselves, others may require assistance from third-party companies, such as Riverbend Consulting.

Lesley Hensell, the Co-founder, Co-owner, and Partner of Riverbend Consulting, joins James Thomson on this week’s episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to share her best practices for reinstating accounts and ASINs on Amazon. Lesley talks about some of the common causes of account suspensions, how to write an effective plan of action, and her recommendations for preventing future issues with seller performance. Stay tuned.

Jim Mann is a serial entrepreneur, brand creator, Amazon FBA expert, and creative digital marketer. Currently, he is the Director of Acquisitions at Thrasio, the largest acquirer of Amazon businesses and one of the top 25 sellers on Amazon. Before Thrasio, Jim was an FBA seller for six years, managing and running all aspects of a travel brand on Amazon across the US and Europe. He specializes in e-commerce, private equity, online retail, third-party sellers, and more.

As the Amazon marketplace continues to grow, more and more entrepreneurs are joining the platform to start new businesses. While many of them can build very profitable businesses in a short period of time, these businesses may not have much brand recognition. So, when exactly does a business become a brand on the Amazon marketplace—and how does this impact its ability to sell?

According to Jim Mann, the Director of Acquisitions at Thrasio, an Amazon brand is a business that sells its product at a certain price, converts well, and receives good reviews from its customers. As he says, a good brand is extremely attractive to investors because it has a proven track record and a promising future trajectory. With this in mind, what is Jim’s advice to entrepreneurs looking to build and sell a successful Amazon brand?

Jim Mann, the Director of Acquisitions at Thrasio, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to talk about his firm's process for investing in FBA private label brands. Jim explains the criteria he looks for in an Amazon brand, what differentiates a good FBA investor from a bad one, and how Thrasio stands out from other aggregators in the market. Stay tuned.

Sebastian Rymarz is the Co-founder and CEO of Heyday. Heyday partners with sellers to acquire, launch, and incubate successful brands on digital marketplaces like Amazon. Its mission is to help e-commerce entrepreneurs reach new heights by providing the capital, tools, and insights to accelerate their brands in the marketplace ecosystem. 

Prior to starting Heyday, Sebastian worked as the Chief Business Officer for Fundbox, a financial services platform that specializes in providing revolving lines of credit to entrepreneurs.

With the current growth of the FBA space and the increased number of private label brand owners looking to sell and exit, it can be difficult for a buyer to evaluate which businesses to acquire. So, how do you determine the current and future value of a brand? Which criteria are most important? And, how do you choose one brand over another? 

According to Sebastian Rymarz, the best approach is to leverage the power of data science to assess a business' value and future potential. At his firm, Sebastian utilizes data to evaluate two essential pieces of criteria: defensibility and opportunity. With this data-driven approach, he can effectively decide which business to acquire based on the quality of its products, their differentiation in the marketplace, and more. 

In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Sebastian Rymarz, the Co-founder and CEO of Heyday, about how his firm leverages data from Amazon to evaluate and acquire FBA private label brands. Sebastian talks about how he finds businesses for sale, the criteria he looks for in a brand, and Heyday's equity offer to sellers. Stay tuned.

Chris Shipferling is a Managing Partner at Global Wired Advisors, a digital investment bank focused on optimizing the business sale process. Prior to joining Global Wired Advisors, Chris spent 15 years in senior roles in sales, leadership, and digital marketing at various large consumer brands.

Jason Somerville is also a Managing Partner at Global Wired Advisors. He has almost 20 years of experience in investment banking and has executed capital market trades for Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies. Jason uses these skills to buy and sell both traditional and digitally native businesses.

Selling a business is not just about gathering papers and going to the market. If you want to achieve a successful and efficient exit, you’ll need to take a strategic approach to prepare your business and attract investors at the right time.

The team at Global Wired Advisors understand that private label founders have many different reasons and long-term goals for selling their businesses. That’s why they work closely with brand owners to create a strategic process that works for them. By helping with market forecasting and product roadmaps, they ensure that you sell your business at the best possible time—so you can achieve maximum results.

In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson interviews Chris Shipferling and Jason Somerville, Managing Partners at Global Wired Advisors, about how they help brand owners determine the best time to sell their businesses. Together, they discuss the importance of business forecasting, how to prepare your brand for the market, and when you should start engaging investors. Stay tuned.

Chris Bell is the CEO of Perch, a technology-enabled consumer products company that acquires and operates Amazon FBA businesses at scale. Chris and his team help winning consumer products and brands maximize their reach and value by creating an unparalleled customer advocacy.

Prior to Perch, Chris was the former Head of Custom Supply Chain at Wayfair where he designed, built, and ran Wayfair’s in-house supply chain solutions which allowed them to deliver exceptional customer experience at industry-leading cost.

The landscape of FBA businesses is changing quickly, and what used to be a limited market has become a hotspot for investors. Smaller brands are looking for that much needed edge over the competition and FBA aggregators are always on the lookout for that brand that offers an award-winning product.

Chris Bell specializes in acquiring and growing these businesses to realize their untapped potential. He shares that while private label brands are a hot commodity these days, FBA aggregators and investors are still meticulous about which brands to acquire and invest in. It’s not enough for a consumer brand to be doing good now, it has to have potential for continued growth.

Join James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts Podcast as he interviews Perch CEO, Chris Bell, about private label business acquisition. Tune in as he discusses the common issues they face in the acquisition process, what makes a product worth investing in, how FBA investors can get value out of their portfolio brands, and what makes Perch different from other FBA aggregators.

Tony and Carol Meibock were the Co-founders of the private label beauty brand, TruRemedy Naturals. After growing the business for over three years on Amazon, they sold it to one of the big FBA aggregators in 2020.

Tony is currently consulting with other brand owners to support them in their journey to sell and exit their businesses.

Being an e-commerce seller requires a lot of sacrifices, both personally and professionally, in order for the business to succeed. Many private label business owners on Amazon started their businesses to earn a living and because of their determination, they have grown them into valuable brands.

The rapid growth of profitable private label brands on Amazon has led to their increased demand by FBA aggregators in the last couple of years. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to increased growth of e-commerce businesses as more investors choose to invest in players within this industry.

Join James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts Podcast as he interviews Tony and Carol Meibock, Co-founders of TruRemedy Naturals, about their successful e-commerce business exit. Tune in as they share what made them decide to sell their business to FBA aggregator, Perch, and how they prepared for the sale. They also discuss the challenges they faced in the process, the people who were instrumental to the sale, and what they learned about themselves from selling their business.

Mark Daoust is the Founder, President, and CEO of Quiet Light, a brokerage and business advisory firm that helps online entrepreneurs achieve amazing exits. Since starting Quiet Light in 2007, Mark and his team of experienced advisors have worked with hundreds of brands that sell on Amazon.

Before Quiet Light, Mark founded the online publication Site-Reference.com and grew its subscriber base to 220,000 members. Currently, he is a well-known presenter and guest author, as well as the co-host of the Quiet Light Podcast.

According to Mark Daoust, there are a number of factors that have fueled the increased interest in private label businesses on Amazon—from press coverage of companies like 101 Commerce and Thrasio, to the current COVID-19 pandemic. While brokerages such as Mark’s company, Quiet Light, have been helping FBA brand owners sell their businesses for some time, these recent events have skyrocketed them into the limelight.

So, what should private label sellers expect when working with a brokerage to sell their businesses? For starters, the broker will want to know the ins and outs of the business, including the defensibility of its revenue, the type of market it's in, and how prepared it is for a transition. As Mark says, he looks for details about each unique seller and brand in order to determine when it will be most valuable for them to sell their business.

Mark Daoust, the Founder, President, and CEO of Quiet Light, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to explain what private label brand owners can expect from working with a brokerage to sell their businesses. Mark talks about the advantages of working with a broker versus selling directly to an aggregator, why some sellers decide to postpone selling their brands, and what differentiates his brokerage from other players in the market. Stay tuned.

Andrew Savage is the Founder and CEO of Suma Brands, a next-generation commerce platform that develops marketplace brands into household names. Suma's purpose is to find, acquire, and help brands realize their potential, both in the Amazon jungle and beyond.

Andrew has 15 years of experience building successful retail businesses and developing web technology products. Prior to founding Suma Brands, he held advisory roles in retail companies and worked in management roles at Amazon and Target.com.

Over the last couple of years, Amazon has been working to improve its marketplace to be more convenient for both sellers and buyers. This has led to an increase in the number of sellers joining the channel—which, in turn, has made it a more attractive space for investors. So, how can both FBA brands and buyers stand out from the growing competition on the Amazon marketplace?

When preparing to sell, most private label Amazon brands work on their financial records, customer reviews, and business operations to make their businesses more attractive to investors. However, according to Andrew Savage, these brands should actually spend more time focusing on their products in order to stand out. As he says, a brand’s long-term value and growth potential are often rooted in the products it sells—not just its presence on Amazon.

Andrew Savage, the Founder and CEO of Suma Brands, joins James Thomson in this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast to talk about why FBA private label sellers should focus more on their products when looking to exit. Andrew discusses what he looks for when evaluating a business for sale, the importance of creating a product roadmap, and how Suma Brands approaches deal structure. Stay tuned.

Yael Cabilly is the Co-founder of Fortunet, a boutique investment banking firm that specializes in the sales of e-commerce businesses. As a leading e-commerce attorney, Yael also owns the law firm Cabilly & Co. She and her team represent thousands of Amazon sellers in all legal issues, including listing and account suspensions, intellectual property enforcement, e-commerce transactions, and IP registration. 

Michal Baumwald Oron is the CEO and Co-founder of Fortunet. With over 23 years of experience as a lawyer and manager, Michal has held senior positions in international leading companies and brands such as VP Business Development and General Counsel. She has also led various projects in both the US and Israel, including M&As, joint ventures, and public offerings.

How do private label sellers on Amazon go about selling their businesses? What resources and tools do they need in order to prepare their business for a sale? And, once they are ready to find a buyer, how do they choose between an FBA broker and an investment banking firm?

Selling a business requires a thorough analysis of its value, competitors, and the story that differentiates it from the rest—so sellers need an expert that is not only a great broker, but also an effective analyst and advisor. According to Yael Cabilly and Michal Baumwald Oron, this is where investment banking firms come in. E-commerce investment bankers, such as the ones at Fortunet, provide valuable services for private label sellers, including business analysis, price negotiation, and the facilitation of the sale. With this help, sellers can remain confident that their sale will be a success.

In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, host James Thomson interviews Yael Cabilly and Michal Baumwald Oron, the Co-founders of Fortunet, about the valuable role of investment bankers in the sale of an FBA private label business. Yael and Michal talk about the increased popularity of FBA businesses and their advice to private label sellers on how to successfully make a sale. They also discuss their projections for the future of e-commerce amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay tuned.