The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Mike sits down with the co-founder of Intelligems, Drew Marconi, to discuss a subject many entrepreneurs find quite personal: pricing.

Pricing is a tricky aspect to navigate when running a business. Set it too high, you'll turn away potential customers. Set it too low and you'll run the risk of struggling to keep your business afloat. So, how do you balance the scales in a mutually beneficial way?

This week on the show, Drew Marconi of Intelligems talks to us about the company he co-founded, the impact of price on conversion, the importance of price testing, and the best ways to go about it.

Audio Timestamps:

• Intro - 0:00
• Invitation to Prosper Event - 1:41
• How Drew's interest in pricing started - 4:22
• Background of Intelligems - 7:16
• The importance of experimentation in pricing - 9:07
• Best methods for price testing - 11:13
• What Mike is doing wrong regarding repricing - 17:10
• Being afraid of touching pricing - 20:38
• Intelligems' services - 27:05
• Pricing trends according to Drew - 31:25

Thank you so much Drew for coming on the podcast. If you have any questions for him about pricing or Intelligems' services, shoot him an email at [email protected] and maybe work together on how you can find more profit in your brand's store.

If you're looking to build an Amazon brand from scratch, we've got a new edition of Secret Sauce, where we'll be sharing with you our monthly numbers from all our brands and deriving relevant insights that you can use to start yours.

By subscribing, you'll get access to exclusive monthly mini-classes, previous webinars, as well as email support directly from Dave and I. For our next webinar on the 16th, we'll be discussing how to make improvements on your products for competitive advantage.

That's it for this week's EcomCrew Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Contrary to the expression "Money is no obstacle," for many start-up entrepreneurs, it's actually the biggest hump to overcome when getting started. So many great ideas and brands fail to come to fruition mainly because of one factor: funding, or the lack thereof.

In this episode, we have Asher Ismail of Uncapped to share with us what the company he co-founded does, how ecommerce entrepreneurs can get capital for their businesses and what important factors come into play during the process.

Audio Timestamps:

• Introduction - 0:00
• Background of Asher and Uncapped - 5:06
• Challenges of securing capital for an ecommerce business - 11:02
• Mainstream ways to get funding - 14:58
• Giving away equity - 17:57
• Crowdfunding - 19:43
• Factors to consider when looking for funding - 21:55
• Uncapped's payment terms and application process - 28:55
• Pros and cons of financing from banks - 40:53
• Uncapped's Secret 50k offer - 41:59

Asher, thank you so much for being on the podcast. To our listeners, if you're earning at least $10,000 a month and looking to scale your business or increase inventory, don't miss out on the Secret 50k offer Uncapped has exclusively for you guys.

The Secret 50k offer is a $50,000 loan free of Uncapped's flat fee. To apply, all you have to do is send an email to [email protected] with the subject line "Secret 50k" and tell them a little bit about your business.

Speaking of growing businesses, we've got a hot new edition of Secret Sauce, where we'll be breaking down step by step how to build an Amazon brand from scratch, as we're slowly growing our newest one, Knitting.com.

A Secret Sauce subscription gets you access to exclusive monthly mini-classes, previous webinars, as well as email support directly from Dave and I. We'll also be sharing the exact revenue numbers of each of our brands, plus tips and strategies.

That's it for this week's EcomCrew Podcast. Don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Mike chats with Eric Suddarth of Seller Rocket about Amazon's Onsite Associates Program and how editorial content can positively influence potential customers.

In a massive ecommerce platform like Amazon where there are literally thousands of results for every product search, getting your business clicked on (and added to cart) is a challenge.

For this episode, I am joined by Seller Rocket's Eric Suddarth to talk about how editorial recommendations work on Amazon and how you can utilize the Onsite Associates Program.

As Seller Rocket's general manager, Eric also discusses the importance of leveraging strategic editorial content to get your brand the visibility it deserves.

Audio Timestamps:

• Intro - 0:00
• Want to know more about our new business, Knitting.com? - 1:53
• How these editorial recommendations on Amazon work - 4:25
• Amazon Onsite Associates Program - 6:32
• Value proposition of Seller Rocket to publishers - 14:17
• Benefits of tapping a service like Seller Rocket - 19:10
• The impact of editorials on lead conversion - 21:24
• Factors publishers consider when producing content - 24:21
• What Seller Rocket does - 26:20

Eric, thank you for taking the time to be with us on the podcast. If any of you guys want to give Seller Rocket a try, mention the EcomCrew podcast when you shoot them an email ([email protected]) to get a sweet $100 discount off your first piece of content.

As we grow Knitting.com, we're taking you along with a brand new edition of Secret Sauce. Sign up for Secret Sauce to get access to exclusive monthly mini-classes and previous webinars, as well as our brand revenue and strategies report. Step by step, we'll be breaking down our numbers and sharing our insights with you in real-time.

That's it for this week's EcomCrew Podcast. Don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Mike catches up with PostPilot's Drew Sanocki to talk about spotting opportunities in business, the bullishness of SaaS, and the efficacy of real mail in today's environment.

Ever since I attended eCommerceFuel Live five or six years ago, I've always admired Drew Sanocki for his knowledge and experience in the business.

Drew is the founder and executive chairman of PostPilot, a service that aims to help businesses grow through direct mail by creating personalized postcard campaigns.

In this episode, Drew and I discuss some of the milestones in our ecommerce journey, the gold mine that is SaaS, and how direct mail is the way to go these days.

Audio Timestamps:

• Intro - 0:00
• Mike and Dave's New Business - 1:08
• How Mike met Drew - 4:05
• Mike's approach to buying an ecommerce business - 6:08
• Drew's thoughts on the current business landscape - 12:40
• Seeing an opportunity and grabbing it - 15:41
• Advantages of venturing into SaaS - 19:24
• Growing a SaaS company - 24:12
• Advantages of email - 32:06
• PostPilot's Godfather Offer - 37:02

Drew, thank you for joining me again on the podcast. I look forward to seeing you in person soon. If you guys need help with marketing for your business, Drew has got an awesome treat for you: click here for PostPilot's Godfather offer.

As always, leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

With our businesses fortunately well and stable, we thought it was high time we worked on a new project – this time, as business partners!

Dave and I have always talked about working on a business together, but we never really came up with anything concrete.

That is until we stumbled upon this hidden gem of sorts: Knitting.com. Although we absolutely have zero expertise on the subject matter, we saw potential in it and the audience it has.

We weren't on the same page initially, but after a trip to Palm Springs (and a shot or two), we eventually agreed that this was a good move and a worthy investment.

We're starting – or should I say 'stitching' – a new chapter in our careers and we couldn't be more excited. We hope you'll join us along for the ride.

Video Timestamps:

• Why we decided to buy a business together - 3:10
• Buying versus building a business - 4:40
• Serendipitous moments in our e-commerce journey - 8:30
• Why hobbies are worth pursuing in e-commerce - 11:47
• The big announcement - 16:17
• Challenges of seasonal businesses - 20:36
• Getting the right domain name - 23:00
• First hire for the new brand - 29:05
• Our vision for this business venture - 32:15

New year, new business venture. We hope you're just as pumped as we are about this exciting project of ours. We can't wait to officially launch the site and products later this year. For now, check out Dave's blog post on how we ended up choosing this domain name.

Don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this week's episode. Also, make sure to tune in to the podcast as we'll be revealing more details about our new business in the coming months.

Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

As the pandemic continues to drag on, running a successful ecommerce business is not without its challenges. 2021 may not have been the COVID-free year Dave and I wanted for our businesses, but that's not to say it was all bad.

It wasn't an easy year, but looking back, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate too, which we will talk about in this episode – and we may or may not discuss a little bit about our new but still secret new business.

Timestamps:

• Was 2021 a good year? - 1:47
• The year in numbers, starting with IceWraps - 5:24
• Offroading - 8:45
• Mike's forecast for IceWraps - 12:36
• How freight rates could affect business - 13:52
• Wild Baby - 18:26
• TAC9ER - 23:40
• Mystery brand (to be announced) - 31:00
• Mike's wins and losses - 37:52
• Dave's wins and losses - 43:20

2021 was quite the year, huh? There were some moments of adversity there, but we persevered. Now that we've begun a new year, we're looking forward to better days for business and an auspicious launch of our new brand, which will come very soon.

That's a wrap for this week's podcast. You guys know the drill: leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy our content. Make sure to tune in to next week's episode as it will be quite a special one. Happy selling!

WallCharmers co-owner Viktor Morosov talks about how his company has grown and evolved since quitting his office job, and the struggles he encountered during the pandemic.

Juggling a nine-to-five job and an e-commerce start-up is no easy feat and is certainly an exhausting set-up to maintain.

So when Wall Charmers' numbers hit an all-time high in April 2021, Viktor and his business partner Lance took a leap of faith, resigned from their main jobs and decided to run their e-commerce baby full time.

Growing their company during the Covid crisis–what with all the delays and restrictions–proved to be a challenge. But Viktor took everything in stride, gaining invaluable lessons and experiences along the way.

Timestamps:

• Mike and Viktor's first meeting during the EcomCrew roadshow in 2019 - 0:33
• How Wall Charmers has evolved since then - 2:57
• Maintaining a warehouse versus tapping 3PL - 6:00
• Decision fatigue and the importance of the 'less is more' approach - 8:45
• Challenges in logistics and inventory during Covid era - 11:45
• Viktor quitting his job to focus on Wall Charmers - 17:05
• Taking the time to pause and be grateful for the big and small wins - 26:00
• Running an e-commerce business while traveling around the world - 30:00
• Valuable lessons Viktor learned over the years - 42:55

And just like that, we've come to the end of episode 431 of the podcast. Viktor, thank you so much for always accepting our invitation to be on the show. It's always a fun conversation with you.

As always, feel free to leave us a review over on iTunes if you had fun tuning in to this week's episode. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Elements Brands CEO Bill D'Alessandro returns to chat with Mike about his recent (and unfortunate) experience with an Amazon aggregator who bought his business.

For many entrepreneurs, selling a business can be an even bigger achievement than starting one. While some luck out with finding honest-to-goodness buyers of their business, others get caught up in less favorable situations.

Bill D'Alessandro, founder and CEO of Elements Brands, is no amateur when it comes to selling businesses with 10 years of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions. But even a man of experience like him isn't exempt from the occasional rotten buyer.

In this episode, Bill shares in painstaking detail the dodgy deal he had to face with an Amazon aggregator who bought the business he was divesting. From how the deal started and ended to valuable takeaways of the event, Bill's story is certainly one you want to listen to.

Timestamps:

• How the deal with the shady Amazon aggregator started - 4:18
• The first red flag - 7:32
• Tips on how to protect yourself as a seller during a negotiation - 13:56
• Continuation of Bill's story - 22:30
• Recap and some tips from Mike and Bill on how to navigate a fishy deal - 41:12

That's it for this week's EcomCrew Podcast. As always, it's a pleasure to have Bill on the show. It's not exactly the most inspiring story to tell, but it's an equally important one nonetheless.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, feel free to leave us a review over on iTunes. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

Mike and Lazada founder Pierre Poignant talk about the differences in ecommerce philosophies between the East and the West.

Born out of the digital revolution, Lazada is one of the largest ecommerce platforms in Southeast Asia.

In this episode, I sit down with Lazada Co-Founder and former CEO, Pierre Poignant, to talk about how he saw a massive opportunity for digital retail in Southeast Asia, how Lazada operates smoothly across international borders, and how they scaled the company after being acquired by Alibaba.

Pierre also shares some valuable insights on the ecommerce principles in the East that could work for many sellers in the West, as well as how he's helping sellers grow their brands through his new company.

Audio Timestamps:

• Intro - 0:00
• How Pierre got started with building Lazada - 2:43
• How Lazada was founded - 5:41
• How Lazada manages logistics all over Southeast Asia - 9:59
• Being acquired by Alibaba - 12:56
• Leaving Lazada and starting a new venture - 15:29
• Ecommerce philosophies in the east that could work in the west - 17:09
• Branded's business model and core philosophy - 18:37
• The next ecommerce revolution - 22:03

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Pierre as much as I have, and I definitely can't wait to have him back a couple of years from now to see how far Branded has come along. If you want to learn more about their services, head over to their website, joinbranded.com or connect with Pierre on LinkedIn.

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

Mike and Dave discuss the most popular ecommerce tools out there, giving their two cents on which seller software are better than others.

Last month, we ran our yearly community poll to find out which among the myriad of seller software our EcomCrew community predominantly uses.

The poll was aimed at determining the most popular Amazon software in 5 categories:

• Product Launches and Giveaways
• Keyword and Product Research
• PPC Management
• Reimbursement Management, and
• Pricing Management

THE RESULTS ARE IN! We'll be discussing the winning software for each of the categories and why they edged out the competition.

We'll also be sharing some insights compared to last year's numbers, on why and how you should be using these tools to grow your ecommerce business—and why you're leaving a lot of money on the table if you don't!

Timestamps

• Introduction - 0:00
• Holiday catch-up with Dave - 0:25
• The Typhoon in the Philippines delaying our podcasts - 1:32
• Overview of our Best Amazon Software of 2021 poll - 4:23
• The most used tool for Product Launches and Giveaways - 4:58
• The most popular Keyword and Product Research Tool - 8:09
• The best software for PPC Management - 13:03
• The best Reimbursement Management Tool - 19:24
• The most popular Repricing Tool - 24:45
• The lucky winner announcement - 30:54
• Mike and Dave's all-time favorite software - 32:36

We'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to cast their votes, and congratulations to the lucky winner of a full year of EcomCrew Premium membership!

If you like this episode, don't forget to help us out by leaving us a review over on iTunes so we can help more e-commerce sellers with our content.

'Til the next one, happy selling!