Selling Chemicals, Cookies, & Cosmetics on Amazon - Dave Terry - Amazon Legends - Episode #114

03/03/22 • 59 min

Starting to sell on Amazon can be very hard, especially if you’re selling “dangerous goods” or running three companies at the same time. Dave Terry has done both, finding great success, and now Dave’s letting you know how to do it yourself. You’ll learn about how to approach the launch of your product, the best practices for FBA, and how to get organic sales while decreasing your ad spend.

Takeaways:

For products that are considered “dangerous goods” on Amazon, the storage options offered by FBA warehouses have decreased since the start of the Covid pandemic as demand rose for other “hazardous” products like hand sanitizer.
The goal of selling on Amazon should be to sell products organically, without having to spend on advertising your products. However, to do this you have to advertise your products to get sales initially which will boost your ranking and your visibility.
There is a process to sell “dangerous goods” on Amazon through FBA and a major part of it is maintaining the right level of stock in the FBA warehouse. Try to get sales, stay in stock, and make sure not to send too much stock as Amazon will limit your storage.
Don’t expect overnight success on Amazon. It takes time to build your presence and credibility as a seller.
Find the standard amount of inventory that you need at an FBA warehouse, this could mean having stock for the next 10 week’s forecasted sales. Typically, 1/3 will be available to sell, while the other 2/3 go through FBA’s 4-6 week intake process.
Ahead of peak times, make sure to be in weekly or biweekly communication with manufacturers to make sure things are on schedule and the demand can be met in time.
If you have a very well-developed way of doing business, when you start selling on Amazon, you can’t expect Amazon to conform to your way of doing things. To be successful, you have to adapt your business to fit Amazon’s methods.

Quote of the Show:

“I can't stress it more than to tell new sellers just to give absolutely amazing customer service” - Dave Terry

Links:

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-terry-020b5428/
Company website: https://www.bellechemical.com
Company website: https://lissecosmetics.com/
Company website: https://viddiesbakery.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Takeaways:

For products that are considered “dangerous goods” on Amazon, the storage options offered by FBA warehouses have decreased since the start of the Covid pandemic as demand rose for other “hazardous” products like hand sanitizer.
The goal of selling on Amazon should be to sell products organically, without having to spend on advertising your products. However, to do this you have to advertise your products to get sales initially which will boost your ranking and your visibility.
There is a process to sell “dangerous goods” on Amazon through FBA and a major part of it is maintaining the right level of stock in the FBA warehouse. Try to get sales, stay in stock, and make sure not to send too much stock as Amazon will limit your storage.
Don’t expect overnight success on Amazon. It takes time to build your presence and credibility as a seller.
Find the standard amount of inventory that you need at an FBA warehouse, this could mean having stock for the next 10 week’s forecasted sales. Typically, 1/3 will be available to sell, while the other 2/3 go through FBA’s 4-6 week intake process.
Ahead of peak times, make sure to be in weekly or biweekly communication with manufacturers to make sure things are on schedule and the demand can be met in time.
If you have a very well-developed way of doing business, when you start selling on Amazon, you can’t expect Amazon to conform to your way of doing things. To be successful, you have to adapt your business to fit Amazon’s methods.

Quote of the Show:

“I can't stress it more than to tell new sellers just to give absolutely amazing customer service” - Dave Terry

Links:

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-terry-020b5428/
Company website: https://www.bellechemical.com
Company website: https://lissecosmetics.com/
Company website: https://viddiesbakery.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Previous Episode

Preparing Your Process to Perform - Zach Cohen - Amazon Legends - Episode #113

Starting up a business on Amazon is completely different from the traditional idea of creating a startup and the process can be very complex. Zach Cohen breaks down this process based on his own extensive experience with startups and selling on Amazon. Make sure you have the right mindset to start, the key clearly defined roles, and processes in place before you get started. You’ll learn about some of the intricacies of FBA and FBM, tracking and analyzing your Amazon data, and creating new listings.

Takeaways:

When using FBM to supplement FBA, you have to make sure your 3PL includes the tracking into the Amazon dashboard. Without this, even if the orders are shipping on time, Amazon will think those orders never shipped and shut you down.
If you are using FBM, Amazon considers the date on which you upload the shipping data as the date that the item was shipped. If you upload the data later than the requirement for shipping time, you will get penalized by Amazon.
There are three roles that must be clearly defined: 1. Operations (Preparing & shipping inventory); 2. Demand Planner (Velocity per Warehouse/SKU & how long getting stock into Amazon’s system is); 3. Marketing Guru (Listings & Keywords).
You cannot rely entirely on Amazon for tracking and analyzing your data. You need to become intimately familiar with your data and incorporate it into your everyday. Using that data and the insights from it can help you communicate better with your team.
It’s imperative to win in the first 90 days of your launch on Amazon. Amazon will give you a little boost, but you need to have a great team that can execute from day 1 of launch to get the most momentum you can out of the gate.

Quote of the Show:

“If you do Amazon the wrong way, to use a boxing analogy, you're going to get punched right in the face and they might not let you get back up” - Zach Cohen

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachcohen2/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rubyforfun
Company website: https://ruby.fun/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/092e0e83-44d8-42a3-9efd-f57daad2bbff/amazon-legends-podcast
Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Podcast/B08JJQKM6V
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amazon-legends-podcast/id1589750284
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/01NnJ5SHgUFTBDr77HtExu?si=7850ec72879e401e
Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xODM1ODcwLnJzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG09G16uH1AhWSrnIEHbUABo0Q9sEGegQIARAD
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/amazon-legends-podcast
YouTube: https://youtu.be/LPqhSYa4xRE

Next Episode

The Model For Building Your Brand - Barbra Bannon - Amazon Legends - Episode #115

No matter what your level of experience selling on Amazon is, you need to get ready to learn from this episode. Barbra Bannon has launched, ran, and sold multiple companies as an Amazon seller. Barbra is giving out critical advice to Amazon sellers of all sizes about what model to follow when creating your brand, how to increase your external traffic, and which KPIs to focus on.

Takeaways:

The proven model for building a successful brand is as follows: 1. Identify a problem facing consumers; 2. Support it with statistics and sources; 3. State the solution; 4. Tie the solution into your product.
Having the first-mover advantage does come with some benefits, however, the costs and uncertainty should not be discounted when considering making a strategic business decision. There may be a reason why no one else is in that space so do your homework!
By trademarking your brand with the US PTO, you will unlock access to “A plus content” from the Brand Registry. A-plus content includes assets like branded advertising, product videos, and crucially, brand protection.
Google will index your A-plus content pages which can increase your external traffic from Google searches.
As a seller, you’re not going to make your money by making cheap, low average order value products. You need to find ways to increase your average order value such as bundling or selling bulk.
Apply for awards on Amazon for your products. You have to submit the application for it as Amazon will not seek out products for the awards. Winning these kinds of awards provides extra social proof of your brand’s quality to prospective buyers.
When reviewing the data from your listings, pay close attention to the conversion rate and see which search terms have the highest conversion. Compare your conversions to the benchmarks of your category.

Quote of the Show: