The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Society Brands CEO Michael Sirpilla explains why the company's founder-centric approach to aggregating is a more lucrative and fairer offer to online entrepreneurs.

Being the sentimental guy that I am, I've always found it a little disheartening how swift it is for entrepreneurs to sell and turn over their businesses to aggregators.

However, Society Brands strategy is more of a collaborative effort than a one-and-done business transaction. It's a concept I can definitely get behind.

Unlike many roll-ups where the seller relinquishes full control of the company after a certain period, Society Brands encourages founders to stay on and help steer the ship.

Michael (Sirpilla, not Jackness), who took over the company as CEO in January 2022, describes Society Brands as "if an aggregator and an FBA mastermind had a baby."

This strategy offers a win-win scenario for the seller, giving them an opportunity to take an offer, continue to manage the business as it grows, and then fully exit at a higher level down the line.

Check out the highlights from this episode:

Timestamps:

• Intro to Michael and what Society Brands is all about - 3:29
• Why it helps to keep founders onboard - 7:33
• Society Brands' valuation multiples -10:52
• The "founder to president" transition - 13:17
• How long the transition process takes - 16:29
• Society Brands' criteria for acquiring businesses - 19:49
• What's happening in the aggregator space? - 21:34
• Areas where aggregators could succeed or fail - 25:23
• How to contact Society Brands - 27:53

Michael, thank you for your time. I look forward to doing a followup on this conversation a year or two from now and see how the aggregating space would look then.

If you have a business for sale and want to find out if Society Brands is a good match, head over to their website and schedule a call. You can also reach out to Michael on LinkedIn.

If you enjoy our podcast, feel free to leave us a review on iTunes. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

After recording this episode, Ben's back to ask about the various strategies that I've been incorporating into our brands to revive our profit margins.

In this new episode, Ben will be asking me a bunch of questions on how I've managed to increase profitability back to 15% from almost losing money in the beginning of the year. We've covered a few of these strategies in the past, but I thought it'd be nice to have it all in one episode for the audience to take and use for their own brands.

This episode is all about increasing profitability. With Covid-related challenges to consider and inflation in full swing, we thought this was a highly important subject to talk about, especially with Q4 in the horizon.

If you listened all the way to the end, then you know we have some exciting topics to discuss in upcoming episodes of this series, so make sure to tune in to the podcast.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Learn how to take advantage of Amazon's livestreaming feature with tips from Wizards of Ecom's Carlos Alvarez.

Earlier this year, we got fellow podcaster Carlos Alvarez to share his personal and ecommerce journey with us – you can listen to that episode here.

Now, he's back on the podcast to talk about a topic I wish we could've unpacked sooner: Amazon Live!

Launched in 2019, this feature isn't totally new but not all Amazon businesses use it, myself included. This conversation might just be the push I need.

Carlos is here to walk us through the process of getting started on this and why brands should hop on the livestreaming bandwagon.

Check out the highlights from this episode:

• Intro - 0:00
• An overview of Amazon Live - 3:22
• The impact of Amazon influencers - 6:25
• Improving your livestream with hardware - 8:51
• Requisites to use Amazon Live - 10:17
• A boost in exposure - 11:52
• Setting expectations as a new user - 14:09
• Understanding the demographic - 17:17
• Carlos' personal experience with Amazon Live - 19:02
• Tips on how to create a great livestream - 21:22
• Get in touch with Carlos - 26:52
• Putting in the work - 30:08

Carlos, thank you for coming again on the podcast and sharing your time with us. Our discussion got me excited to try out Amazon Live for my own brands.

For those who have any questions for Carlos, feel free to send him a DM on Instagram @wizardsofecom. If you've already listened to the episode, you'd know that Carlos has generously given out his phone number as well. But serious queries only, please!

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Mike and Dave ponder EcomCrew's early years as they bid a bittersweet goodbye to the company's first employee.

July was an interesting month. For me, my top line number went down, but my bottom line number went up – thanks to reduced PPC costs, raised product prices, and AGL.

Dave, on the other hand, rants about the ridiculous sales tax being imposed on businesses based in British Columbia.

We also discuss our takes on 3PL, which Dave and I are approaching very differently: I'm slowly weaning off of it, while Dave is heavily reliant on it (for an inevitable yet valid reason).

In more devastating news: Abby, EcomCrew's employee #1 and brand manager is leaving us. This was bound to happen eventually, but it still feels very sad that it's actually happening.

That concludes our July Brand Report. It's definitely going to be challenging without Abby and we'll miss her for sure, but that's life. We wish her all the best in her journey.

We never have enough time on the podcast to cover everything in our Brand Report, so if you want to see the full-length report, check out the blogpost here.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Mike is joined by 101 Commerce founder RJ Jalichandra as he talks about the growing pains of being a pioneering FBA aggregator and where the industry might be headed in the coming years.

If you're well versed in the wider ecommerce landscape, you'd know that the FBA aggregator or acquisition industry have become a lucrative business in recent years.

RJ is the founder of 101 Commerce, which is considered the first FBA aggregator with institutional backing. Before names like Thrasio went big, there was 101 Commerce.

RJ's been on the podcast before, when 101 Commerce was just getting started, and so I thought RJ would be a great resource person to talk about the ins and outs of being an FBA aggregator, how the business works and the current environment of the industry.

If you want to listen to our first episode together, you can find it here.

• Intro - 0:00
• The genesis of 101 Commerce - 5:16
• What kind of businesses do aggregators look for? - 12:17
• Challenges of being an aggregator - 14:20
• RJ's retiring and unretiring - 16:00
• Getting back into ecommerce - 15:27
• The aggregator business model and its challenges - 19:41
• The learning curve - 23:28
• The future of the aggregator space - 26:05
• What's next for RJ? - 31:19
• Connect with RJ - 33:16

Thank you so much for your time, RJ. It was nice to catch up and chat a bit about the inner workings of the aggregating business.

If you need advice on how to sell your brand, you can message RJ on LinkedIn. You can also check out Incline Capital's website for more information on their services.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

In this yearly review episode, Dave gives an update on how his brand's been doing the past year, from feeling the fallout of a post-pandemic market to increased competition in the niche.

I did the first one of these annual reviews on July 17, 2017. It's kind of surreal how fast time flies. I've always enjoyed these because it makes me take an objective look at my brand.

Businesses in certain niches certainly benefited from the lockdown, us included. With people choosing to do more outdoor activities then, we saw a spike in our sales the first two years into the pandemic.

However, as the world slowly opened up again and travel resumed, our revenue went down. I'm sure other businesses in this niche are experiencing this as well.

The past year wasn't all that bad though. We had our losses, but we had awesome wins too. I've also set some goals for the company that I hope will come to fruition in the coming months.

Check out the highlights from this episode:

• Intro - 0:00
• June 2022 revenue - 2:52
• The Covid bump - 3:31
• Increased competition - 6:17
• Decline in TACoS - 8:56
• Our massive hit product - 12:29
• Finding a good fulfillment system in Canada - 15:30
• New hires from the Philippines - 16:30
• Developing a custom inventory software - 17:40
• Our losses the past year - 19:20
• My goals for the next 12 months - 21:25

That's it for my year-in-review podcast episode. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you were able to take away a thing or two from this brief discussion.

I also did a blogpost where I elaborate more on these points in detail over at ecomcrew.com. Go check it out and leave a comment. I'd love to know what you guys think.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Taking a more proactive approach, Mike and Dave talk about the measures they've taken to prepare for less-than-ideal market conditions in this Brand Report episode.

As we've mentioned in our previous episodes, Dave and I spent a good chunk of June in the Philippines spending time with our employees there.

We also made good headway on the content website we are launching this month–yes, this month! After several setbacks, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

For me, I worked on improving my margins, which included taking out an Amazon loan and fully transitioning to AGL. It's definitely a tedious process, but worth it.

If you listened to our May Brand Report podcast, you'll recall that one of Dave's brands had an IPI score teetering below the required threshold. He's got an update on that one.

Let's get into our latest Brand Report, shall we? Check out the highlights from this episode:

• Intro - 0:00
• Our revenue for June - 2:32
• Average margins in ecommerce - 4:59
• The impact of the declining economy - 6:18
• Gearing up for the worst - 10:14
• What we worked on in June - 12:44
• The reason behind our new content website's delay - 15:08
• Our game plan for the launch - 17:30
• Transitioning exclusively to AGL - 20:19
• Dripping in LCL inventory via AGL - 25:07
• Amazon's new growth program - 30:25
• An update on Dave's IPI score - 32:37

That's it for our June Brand Report. After several delays, I'm so happy to say we're almost at the finish line. We can't wait to finally show you our new content website in the next few days!

In the meantime, you can check out the blog counterpart of the Brand Report here if you want a more detailed account of what we did last month.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Taking a more proactive approach, Mike and Dave talk about the measures they've taken to prepare for less-than-ideal market conditions in this Brand Report episode.

As we've mentioned in our previous episodes, Dave and I spent a good chunk of June in the Philippines spending time with our employees there.

We also made good headway on the content website we are launching this month–yes, this month! After several setbacks, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

For me, I worked on improving my margins, which included taking out an Amazon loan and fully transitioning to AGL. It's definitely a tedious process, but worth it.

If you listened to our May Brand Report podcast, you'll recall that one of Dave's brands had an IPI score teetering below the required threshold. He's got an update on that one.

Let's get into our latest Brand Report, shall we? Check out the highlights from this episode:

• Intro - 0:00
• Our revenue for June - 2:32
• Average margins in ecommerce - 4:59
• The impact of the declining economy - 6:18
• Gearing up for the worst - 10:14
• What we worked on in June - 12:44
• The reason behind our new content website's delay - 15:08
• Our game plan for the launch - 17:30
• Transitioning exclusively to AGL - 20:19
• Dripping in LCL inventory via AGL - 25:07
• Amazon's new growth program - 30:25
• An update on Dave's IPI score - 32:37

That's it for our June Brand Report. After several delays, I'm so happy to say we're almost at the finish line. We can't wait to finally show you our new content website in the next few days!

In the meantime, you can check out the blog counterpart of the Brand Report here if you want a more detailed account of what we did last month.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Here's a reality check: there's more to life than just money. Amazon seller and aspiring personal development coach Jonathan Jesper shares his story of grit and resilience.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I am very much aware of how unstable and unpredictable life in the business can be. The journey is never linear.

Fellow Vegasite Jonathan Jesper, who has never had a job, has been an entrepreneur his whole life – and he's no stranger to failure.

He lived in a van straight out of high school; went to college and then dropped out; and eventually, as he described, "failed into ecommerce."

Jonathan's life as an entrepreneur is quite the story. From selling flowers at high school graduations to running his own Amazon business, he certainly knows the hustle.

Check out the highlights from this episode:

• Intro - 0:00
• Background on Jonathan - 2:16
• Jonathan's early years as an entrepreneur - 3:20
• Benefits of traveling - 6:19
• Being "stuck" in our beliefs - 7:32
• Transitioning to ecommerce - 9:46
• Inventing a market - 13:04
• Dealing with failure - 16:01
• The relativity of success - 20:42
• The blueprint of life - 23:16
• Connecting the dots - 30:36
• Helpful resources - 34:14

That was a great and insightful conversation, Jonathan. Thank you for coming on the podcast. This episode is a reminder that it's important to reevaluate what success means to us.

Speaking of success, if you want some tips on how to build a successful Amazon business, EcomCrew Premium is open to new members until Friday. Sign up now to get all the cool perks.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

The results are in! In this episode, Mike and Dave unpack their recently concluded Amazon Consumer Behavior survey, which includes a shocker you'll want to know.

Over the past few months, we've been working on a survey to pick the brain of today's Amazon consumer a little bit – to better understand their purchasing habits.

What pushes a consumer to check out an item? Which matters more: star rating or number of reviews? With the findings, we hope sellers can leverage them to improve their strategies.

We also found out something that we've somewhat always suspected. You'll want to stick around till the end. It's quite the bombshell. But don't skip!

These are the highlights from this episode:

Timestamps:

• Intro - 0:00
• The most important buying holiday - 3:45
• The deciding factor to make a purchase - 7:50
• Good star rating vs number of reviews - 10:12
• The impact of reviews - 13:40
• Do badges matter? - 18:20
• Sponsored products - 22:45
• The real reason why buyers return products - 27:05
• The impact of returns on ranking - 34:38
• Shoutout to the team - 36:10

We hope you learned a thing or two from our survey. Of course, I can't end this without recognizing the hard work of our team. This would not have been possible without them.

Mind you, we only covered a small portion of the survey, so if you want to see the full report, you can check out www.ecomcrew.com/amazonreport.

As always, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!