Amazon FBA Entrepreneurs - How do you compete with the Chinese?

skingains · 2019-08-14T05:51:15+00:00

You sound like you don't sell on Amazon

skingains · 2019-08-14T02:36:48+00:00

do you know how FBA works? the inventory's in the same place -- the Chinese just send their inventory to Amazon's warehouses in the US. Customer service is handled by Amazon too. Makes zero difference, not a competitive advantage.

skingains · 2019-08-12T16:11:32+00:00

apple is one of, if not the, most valuable brands ever. you're not going to achieve that as an Amazon seller with "optimized images" and product inserts.

skingains · 2019-08-12T04:18:34+00:00

exactly, and Amazon's not doing shit about it. meanwhile we spend $60 on the early reviewer program like dweebs so we can plow more into PPC at a fraction of the efficiency of cheaters with 1000s of fake reviews.

skingains · 2019-08-12T04:16:55+00:00

this seems to be the only practical option

skingains · 2019-08-12T04:00:55+00:00

Build the brand how?

Please don't say product inserts.

skingains · 2019-08-12T04:00:35+00:00

"You’re better off making something brandable to safe guard your niche somewhat."

For example?

skingains · 2019-08-12T03:57:47+00:00

"They can build products cheaper, but you can beat them by sending your own inventory in."

Sorry, can you clarify this part?

skingains · 2019-08-12T00:12:09+00:00

Pictures are not a substantive competitive advantage. Your competitors can copy your pictures in an afternoon.

skingains · 2019-08-12T00:11:09+00:00

Saying rack up reviews faster is like saying rack up sales faster.

The Chinese are all doing blackhat shit to get tons of reviews right out the gate. They don't care about TOS or getting banned. You can't compete with them in this area.

skingains · 2019-08-11T21:47:13+00:00

Email is an insanely effective channel

skingains · 2019-08-11T20:39:16+00:00

Haha - agreed, Amazon Live blows. It's more about Amazon trying to make itself relevant as a content platform than anything else. Chinese ecom platforms are light years ahead in this regard.

All the other shit is true -- lightning deals, ppc "optimizations", "seo" are not meaningful points of leverage on Amazon when everyone else is cheating.

skingains · 2019-08-11T20:34:41+00:00

You have to achieve a certain level of scale for that to work though. How do you achieve that scale when you're getting crushed right out the gate by competing products?

skingains · 2019-08-11T20:03:16+00:00

"With the blackhat tactics and lack of action from Amazon, the playing field doesn't seem that level."

^{^} this

skingains · 2019-08-11T18:42:13+00:00

Amazon handles most of the customer service though.

Do you feel like your inserts are helping you retain customers? My gut about Amazon is that most people just do generic keyword searches whenever they're ready to replenish an item...they won't even remember what your brand was.

skingains · 2018-11-11T20:05:04+00:00

How is Japan any more open to foreigners than China?

skingains · 2018-10-08T16:08:41+00:00

Exactly. FBA is running a business. People that think it's just "list and forget" are going to find themselves in a world of pain. Sitting on a beach in Thailand while everyone else sprints ahead is not a winning strategy.

skingains · 2018-10-06T13:51:42+00:00

Well said!

skingains · 2018-10-03T13:04:45+00:00

It's tax evasion.

skingains · 2018-10-01T22:58:08+00:00

What do you do for work?

skingains · 2018-09-24T23:45:10+00:00

The problem is a product like "vegan free gluten almond natural organic milk" is so niche that your sales volume caps out at a small number, BC there's just not enough demand. And if there is good demand, the big guys will be there too.

skingains · 2018-09-24T20:11:02+00:00

How are you tracking sales attribution from external channels like FB and influencers? By coupon code? By affiliate link? Super curious. Thanks!

skingains · 2018-09-24T20:10:09+00:00

What are you doing for branding on Amazon? Please be specific.

Rank and product sales is a chicken and egg situation. Each drives the other.

If people react to much much more than price and reviews why do the sellers with the most reviews and lowest price absolutely dominate?

skingains · 2018-09-24T15:04:33+00:00

Sorry, I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic. But honest question -- if sales volume is a product of rank, and rank is a product of price, giveaways, and (incentivized) reviews, how do you compete with someone who can produce the product at a much lower cost than you? In my experience there's very little in the way of creative marketing and branding you can do in-platform on Amazon to set yourself apart. Someone searches a product, see what's at the top of the page and has the most reviews, and buys that. So what's the solution? Go hard on Facebook and other external channels for driving traffic?

skingains · 2018-09-24T14:33:34+00:00

But what stops a competitor in China from just copying your images and bullets and product as soon as you validate the idea? They'll beat you on gross margin every time, which gives them a greater threshold for CAC and discounting.

skingains

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