Take-off Thursday — 17 August 2017
Welcome to Take-off Thursdays, your one-stop shop for the latest news and updates about all things ecommerce and Amazon.
Join me each Thursday in pondering the present and the future of commerce in 2017 and beyond!
If you’ve been reading any of the other digest posts and you have enjoyed them, I’d love it if you could give us some likes and shares!
I have been enjoying my time in Amsterdam and looking forward to meeting up with the team in almost a weeks time so that we can work together and let our hair down.
The fun thing about travelling whilst working is that you get to experience different cultures, and if you find good co-working spots, you get to meet lots of inspiring people too.
Let’s dive into my updates for the week in the Amazon and ecommerce world…
Is Amazon Using Secret Brands?
A big news piece that caught my eye was that some reports have found some private label brands actually have connections with Amazon.
There is no solid evidence for all of the brands suspected to be Amazon brands, but there’s a lot of interesting suggestions, including where the brand website states these brands are exclusive for Prime members, and only sold on the Amazon marketplace.
Quartz reported on this in detail and I highly recommend giving this article a read. Especially if you have products in these niches, or are looking to launch a product in these competitive landscapes.
The only indication that any of these other brands might have an affiliation with Amazon is the fact that their company pages — like this one from Arabella — say that their products are “exclusively for Prime members.” It’s not clear that they’re exclusive because they are Amazon products, rather than products from companies that have struck deals with Amazon. — QZ.com
But does this mean doom and gloom for third party sellers? Well, usually, Amazon listings tend to be poor and they do not take up sponsored ads positions.
I am a firm believer that going up against Amazon with a product is nothing to be too worried about… after all as I mentioned last week, third party sellers are starting to take over, and Amazon want our FBA fees and PPC spend.
If Amazon are indeed masquerading behind private label brands, then that may present slightly more competition. The same goes if some brands are striking deals with Amazon. They key is to be knowledgeable about this when doing your competitor research, and also bear in mind this is not confirmed as a fact (yet!).
Definitely one to watch, I am intrigued to see if anything else comes out of the woodwork.
→ Find Out More — Quartz
Rolling Out Amazon Insights (Quietly)
I just came across a cool new feature that Amazon is quietly rolling out, called Amazon Insights.
It’s something that allows you to get some really cool customer feedback. You won’t be able to find the link in your Seller Central Dashboard, but check out my post with the overview of the program and link to the Insights dashboard.
→ Read More — Fetcher Blog
Long-term Storage Fees Are Here 💸
Just a quick reminder for the Amazon sellers reading this that long-term storage fees came into force on August 15.
If you haven’t already found a way to get any slow moving inventory out of the Amazon warehouse, remember that you could run a promotion on a deals marketplace like Jump Send.
Sometimes, selling items at deep discounts can be better than paying those long-term fees, or liquidating inventory completely.
→ Find out more — Jump Send
Calculate Your Profits Accurately
A very important task for any business. If you are selling on Amazon as an FBA seller you have lots of things to consider… FBA fees, the landed cost of your product including shipping and duties, taxes or VAT, ongoing marketing costs…
On top of this, every seller will have upfront costs, such as photography, design and so on.
How do you ensure you know your true profits?
To help you out, we put together this useful guide to help you navigate your FBA fees and other costs to get a true view of your profit.
You can also automate all of this using Fetcher, the number one profit analytics tool, which tracks all of your financing and gives you a detailed profit and loss statement.
→ Find out more — FBA Calculator
Give Your Product Copy ONE Job
I really liked this article and infographic on Copyhackers, from Joanna Wiebe.
If You Want To Measure Your Copy So You Can Improve It, Give Every Element 1 Job To Do
Does cramming everything into a product listing to make it sell better sound familiar?
Sometimes less is more, and a thoughtfully crafted listing that addresses the needs of your customer, and taps into their problem, emotions or fears, is going to be much more successful.
I try to keep that in mind when optimizing my listings, I find it invaluable. You can also test your product listing copywriting skills scientifically using Splitly.
→ Read More — Copyhackers
Quote of the Week
Wherever you go, go with all your heart — Confucius
Podcast of the Week
Andrew Warner of Mixergy recently had a great interview with a private label seller who is doing big numbers selling stainless steel cups, called Siccups. Not quite a podcast but I really enjoyed listening to his story. Check out the interview here.
See you around next week!
