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Surviving Slow Sales: Strategies for Improving Your BSR During Quiet Periods · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everyone, this is Selling On Giants.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is the e-commerce marketplace show, where we chat with experts in the e-commerce industry and we talk about the latest insights and strategies and best practices that you need to succeed on major e-commerce platforms.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm your host, Victor Dwyer.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: And today we have someone who has graced us on our platform that has been here before in return to share invaluable expertise once again.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: We have Will Hare.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm super pumped for today's episode, co-founder of Bellafix, a full service marketplace marketing agency helping retail brands grow on platforms like Amazon and Walmart.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Will has extensive experience in e-commerce and is passionate about helping brands dominate their categories.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Before we dive into surviving slow sales strategies for improving your BSR during quiet periods, Will, it's a pleasure to have you back on the show.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for taking the time and joining us once again.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Please give us a little intro for the people that don't know you yet and about yourself and what you're currently working on.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Victor, thanks so much for having me.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was the best intro.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need to record that and just have that for whenever I do anything else.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh thank you for your kind words in the introduction.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my name is Woolhair.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the after of Bellovix.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're a marketplace marketing agency.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have over at this point 12 years of experience helping brand scale of all different sizes.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm here, you know, really excited to share with you guys some of my experiences around BSR bestseller ranking and what that might mean for brands, especially seasonal products where this tends to be a pain point.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, some of the projects we're working on, it's uh it's June.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: This will probably air a little after.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we're in the process of submitting our case studies to Amazon for the Amazon Advertising Partners Awards.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully next time you hear from me, I'll have some great news to share with you guys on some killer case studies that Amazon couldn't help themselves to uh promote on their website, as we're one of their advertising partners.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: That is super exciting.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like kicking it off.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'd love to get started.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is BSR and how does it affect Amazon sellers?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So BSR is your best seller ranking, and more importantly, it's an indicator.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So a misconception is like, how do I influence BSR?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You influence BSR, your best seller ranking, through good search engine optimization, product availability, advertising and marketing, so on and so forth.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what's it's an indicator of is how well your product sells in a specific category.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you get a ranking on the category level and the subcategory level, and it'll fluctuate based on you know the category, the marketplace, US and UK, so on and so forth.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it is uh and it's a really effective indicator to understand how you stack up compared to your competition and how popular your product is with the masses.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you can actually choose your categories on Amazon, and that's actually a big piece.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like very, very important you pick the right category that you're in, especially if you're like these supplement products that can be fit in multiple categories potentially.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And can you go into like how to possibly pick your categories on Amazon and why that's so important?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: We find this, we have actually so a couple things is like we found people that we put in subcategories and Amazon without any notification whatsoever just eliminates the subcategory and mushes you into a category that's irrelevant.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're wondering, like why are sales decreasing out of nowhere, you could definitely be a victim of this.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to picking the right category, we keep it super basic.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: There are tools you can use, like helium 10 and stuff that has some features to get an idea of like where my category should be.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: But we look at the best selling list that Amazon promotes within a category, narrow it down to the subcategories or the products that are most associated with your products, uh, and then just pick your categories from there.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're a big proponent of split testing.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you fall into a couple categories, the scientific measurements, I think is the category, like you could fall into a hobby category or fall into that category.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always a good idea just to test it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing that says you have to stay in the category once you're in it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's as simple as doing like a flat file upload and just updating some things on the back end, and then boom, you'll be in the other category.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you can just measure, you know, how many page views do we get?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's the visibility?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, does it make sense to be product 200 in home and dining, or is it better product 15 in the pressure cooker category, for example?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how you should kind of think about it uh when you're identifying and testing categories.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And how long is that test typically?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is that like a two-week type of test, or is that like a month or two-month type of test?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I minimum I'd say a month, because like it does take time to be like generally it takes rule of thumb, uh, six to eight weeks for your products to be re-indexed.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So generally, yeah, you want to give it more than 30 days.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ideally, you could give it 60 days, something in a category level where it's it's a higher impact.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: You might notice things a little quicker, uh, but I would give it at least a full 30 days.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and when it comes down to like choosing the right category, um, there's also like product relevance, and then there's like competition.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Can you go into like how you possibly might want to pick a lower competitive category and how you can see like how many competitors are in that category and how to basically choose what category you possibly want to go into?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the number one thing to keep in mind is just your relevance to the category.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, it's important that you're number one in pressure cookers or rice makers.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: If your product actually falls into that category, you want to want to go to something generic like home home kitchen gear.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because there's spot that could fall into that category and it'll make it saturated.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you're trying to identify the level of competition on the category software tools, we subscribe that's one of the best, and we will use that to measure competition, how many sellers are on a specific category.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you can also do this through search if you search like pressure cooker and then narrow specific subcategory and look at how many items are available.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's a if you don't want to pay for software, that's a great way to kind of check it.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you are paying for software, then you know it'll give you the level of competition and then what it takes.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then for you to consider is like how competitive is my product?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Am I competing on price?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have a lot of reviews?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have good assets like a good main image, video, uh, A content, and all that other fun stuff that's gonna influence your BSR because it helps with conversion rates, which approve sales, which helps with that ranking process.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd love to hear from you what is the difference between having a seller central account when it comes to categories and having a vendor account when it comes to categories?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a difference?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there is much of a difference.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: The the biggest difference I noticed on my end, and uh my operators could probably speak a little more clearly about this, is the ability to change the categories.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So on seller central, it's pretty easy.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You just do a flat file upload and you can just bounce from category to category.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, on vendor central, because you kind of you get your brand gets approved based on the category you sell products in.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of things have to be run through case management.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're changing your category, uh it'll just require some additional casework.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that can be quick and easy.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Boom, they turn it around pretty quickly.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Other times it could be a bit of a challenge.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So just keep that in mind.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, things tend to be harder to change on vendor central.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we all know the pain.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you're on vendor central, you know the pain you're going through.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know how much it sucks.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then um, next thing is like, what are some seasonal impacts that will impact BSR and what can sellers do to really stay on top?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that way they're always in the top of BSR.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So BSR is a sales indicator.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So at the end of the day, if you want to stay on top of BSR and you want to have off-season traction, you need to figure out how to get more sales, and that could be anything from bundling products.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it comes down to what the product is.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if you sell Halloween decorations, this is going to be a challenge because unfortunately, there's only one time of year that Halloween's in season.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if you sell bathing suits, sunblock, winter gear, um, there are people who are going on vacations, they're visiting cold and warm places, and there's opportunity to continue to generate sales.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's like how you go about it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's all right, Vic, I'll share a quick case study.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we have um a sunblock company that we work with, um, and they they have great sales in season, and they're like a better sunblock because their ingredients are a little better for your skin.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, long story short, we came on board, and one of the strategies we use to help rank them is that we didn't pull back on advertising all the way.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: We made sure that we maintained rank on keywords that we wanted to rank for.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So when the off-season came around, our competitors pulled down their ads and they stopped really focusing on Amazon.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of doubled down.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: We continue to use programmatic advertising to capture in market and retarget customers.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we improved the images.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great time to split test things.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we ran promotions, we bundled products together, and we maintained a level of sales velocity through that entire offseason.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: When the season picked back up, we had the best sales to date of the entire inception on Amazon.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So much that the investors involved, the board of directors, was we we we landed on their map.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: So now suddenly they're like, oh damn, Amazon could generate money.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: How did you do this?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had a lot of conversations, and now the strategy continues to be advertise off season.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: We pull back a little bit, you know, we're not going as hard as we are in season, but we do have sufficient budgets.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have the keywords we're targeting, uh, and we're trying to make sure that we're testing marketing, we're split testing, and we're improving conversion rates so that when we do roll into season, we're able to just crush it and you can block baby sun block uh our products, you'll likely see ads, and organically we're ranking in the top 10.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it spills over and we're able to maintain a really strong BSR year-round.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Can you go into a little bit about the Amazon flywheel effect that happens when it comes down to BSR?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, let's say a lot of people will ask about what's your A cost on that ad spend.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say if you're getting$100,000 in sales and you're having um you're breaking even on that A cost, okay?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you're not very profitable on that Amazon spend.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: But then let's say you get another$50,000 worth of sales from that Amazon flywheel effect from that increased BSR, then it makes sense to advertise because of that additional flywheel effect that it gets from getting more sales.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Can you go into what that Amazon flywheel effect is from the BSR and how you're going to get more sales from just the initial advertising spend that you normally get?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's a great kind of summary of.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll jump on the bandwagon because you really hit the sound of the park, Victor.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we use tacos.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we uh we're able to account for organic influence by looking at totalizing cost of sales versus just ACOS.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: The goal and the spin up the flyway, we know BSR is an indicator and it's reflected upon uh sales velocity.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you especially off-season, about this out of the story, but they they raise our threshold.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: So uh in-season for that specific brand, it's a little larger.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: We had a 9% tacos.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Off season, we were allowed to operate around 18% because you are going to lose the efficiency.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: People are not as in market or you know, ready to buy a lot of a sunblock in this case.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, what are the factors that influence of how do you generate?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you look at your fulfillment, you look at um your sales, uh, you look at your relevant text, and then you know what influences sales the most.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's like rock star images, advertising investment, A content, promotional strategies, like all these different facets that you can kind of tick off the box to push sales.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the name of the game.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you want to have a strong VSR, you have to push sales.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do it smartly, obviously, you have to do it like within whatever makes sense for your business in terms of profitability.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but at the end of the day, there is a Halo effect.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: It can be measured, and they're releasing more features like brand analytics, uh, your search uh impression share that you can kind of tie back to your investment to say, okay, we may not be getting much sales right now, but we're getting a lot more detailed page views, uh, we're getting more time on the specific pages, we're owning more uh bottom of the funnel searches, we're seeing brand awareness lift.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're using like programmatic advertising, you can have your Amazon representative generate like a brand lift report so you can kind of see how you know how your investment's affecting your ability to sell at all levels of the market.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because even though it's Amazon, there's is still a top, bottom, uh top, middle, and bottom of the funnel.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and let's go into a little bit about Amazon badges when it comes to the Amazon bestseller badge, the Amazon's choice badge.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like we all know those have really big increases in sales when you have those badges.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when it comes to BSR.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Can you go into a little bit how to get each one of those badges and what are some of the sales impacts by getting them?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're all tied to BSR.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy, but they're they're all tied.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And even now, they recently removed the ability to do like Amazon editorial recommendations, those programs that can continue, but Amazon still kept it top seller, most rated, uh, best reviews, so on and so forth.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, like they still kept the concept of it and how it works, it it completely tied to BSR.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the badges will a hundred percent influence sales.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, having a bestseller badge or Amazon choice badge that shows up right on top of search, it means that your product is in the top of its category.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's a minimum of a hundred competitor listings for a specific subcategory to qualify these badges, but the impact is it is very measurable and it makes a huge difference uh if you're trying to inch out some of your competitors, so on and so forth, and kind of capture uh that validation that comes with getting those badges.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally agree.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then what are some off-season tactics that people can do to maintain their BSR?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: You talked a little bit about the advertising.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else that people can do in the off-seasons to keep and maintain their BSR?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's a couple things like we like to use this time to split test stuff.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh bundles, promotional bundles, bogos, virtual bundles.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's all types of ways to like increase your average order value, put complementary products together that makes sense.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's usually a huge opportunity.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Leverage social media, work with influencers.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, it may not always be at this point of the game your ability to generate direct sales, but the ability to build an audience that you can put in remarketing pools for when the time's right.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: At this point, through programmatic advertising, uh, Amazon's DSP platform, we can go back 365 days.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we have the ability to kind of build these audiences and when we come back into season, kind of pull them out of the closet, dust the dust off, and start peppering with ads to remind them they've engaged our brand, they've engaged an influencer associated with our brand.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's also a great opportunity to tie into your email marketing list.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have the ability, sell evergreen products.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is a hard ass, so I don't usually like to do this, but like if you can get year-round products, if you sell bathing suits and maybe sunglasses, or you can get into spring gear, winter gear that you know aligns with your brand essence, like having products you could run year-round or having evergreen products like sneakers uh is a great opportunity that you can always maintain relevance year-round, and then it's not so much of a rebuilding or having to advertise at a loss or low margins in the off seasons in order to bring those customers back in season.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, some of the tactics, like I mentioned, you know, play with your promotional strategy, flip test your A content, uh, make sure you're running promotions and trying bundles and different deals, and then advertising is the number one.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're you're building audiences at different sizes, uh, different phases of the funnel so that when you do click into season, you could start your your your own flywheel that's gonna generate sales and lift you above the competition.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you gave a lot of strategies there.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say are the most effective ways?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is it norm like the most effective ways to maintain BSR?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is it normal Amazon advertising?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is it DSP?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is it uh promotional strategies?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say is the most effective levers that people have to kind of maintain or increase their BSR?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to be honest with you, I'm gonna say programmatic advertising, DSP, because uh although it may not be in the time period, like if you're you're selling some black in the winter time, uh, it's not gonna be a great return.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: But your ability to build these in in-market audiences and these retargeting audiences will pay off and bring a larger return.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: You just have a have to have a large a longer timeline of how you analyze that data.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we find that companies that invest in programmatic advertising year-round are gonna see a larger pickup in sales when it comes into season.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, if they're searching for, like you should do all of them, but you will always be invested in PPC.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's okay to like scale that back, focus on keywords you want to rank for, and take that residual budget and put it into programmatic advertising because you're gonna be able to bring these people down, these shoppers down the funnel more efficiently as the season comes in, and then have larger audiences that you could build strategies and marketing campaigns around that you can't do with PPC.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Once you get the sale, they're out, they may not be back again, you know, to whenever they need whatever product you're selling.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's super valuable.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And how do external factors such as changes in Amazon algorithm or competitor actions impact a seller's BSR?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And how can a seller adapt to those changes?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh a great question.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, one of the biggest impacts is it impacts your sales loss.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Amazon algorithm changes is like there's no notification, there's nobody like, by the way, we're changing how we index your products in your category.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck figure.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's always like troubleshooting something that I don't know, it's troubleshooting sales or page views and being able to tie it back to like, wow, we're losing impression share.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Go, oh, we're getting tons of competitors, or like whatever else could be influencing it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a big thing.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: What I will say, like, we drank the Amazon Kool-Aid.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they told us the spaceship's coming, like literally, they're building SpaceX or whatever the hell they're doing.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we we look at Amazon's news RSS feed in Seller Central that helps us stay on top of changes.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, science.com is all about best seller ranking, algorithmic changes, uh, different studies they're doing in terms of video advertising, AI, technology, and it's a lot of white papers, so you know, it could be dry reading, be sure over a glass of wine.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: But it helps you stay a step ahead to understand like some changes that are coming.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um, just to share a quick story.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we were a brand that sold uh kitchen gear.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: They sold uh specifically, it was like a uh a croc or a uh utensil holder, and um, they were a premium product, so like they weren't the the cheapest on the market, but they had uh really good reviews, and generally when somebody bought their product, they were pretty so it was a positive feedback.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the brand who just outsold us, they sold it like ten dollars cheaper.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: It looked very similar to the look we were going for, and we were always competing against those guys.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: We would go back and forth with the Amazon Choice badge and the bestseller.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what we learned over time was like this brand had tons of issues with sourcing.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: So when they when their product would go out of stock, we would just, you know, sales would skyrocket, our BSR would drop, rolling in the money, and everybody was really happy.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we learned to do over time is we would actually tell our project products in uh analytics and helium 10, they're the two softwares that we use, and we would get notifications when they would go out of stock, and we would we would raise our prices two or three dollars so that we can maximize our profitability during those periods and take that excess cash and use it either to buy inventory or to buy ads um during different seasons.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: This particular for whatever reason was a uh spring summer product and Christmas time.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So for some reason, fall and uh that Q3, that July-August period tended to be pretty slow.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we got most of Q1, some of Q2, and all of Q4.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we would always monitor their stock and inventory to see when they were going and out.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a tactic on how you can track those sellers, and there's tons of softwares out there.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have ours we prefer, we have standard operating procedures around them.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but being able to track that is pretty easy.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: We recommend not only tracking your products, but track the top competitors and see what happens when they do go out of stock.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to avoid going out of stock, create FBA and FBM listings.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: You have the ability to fulfill out through a third-party logistics company or you have a warehouse you're able to fulfill yourself.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: The worst thing you could do that will kill BSR is just have no availability.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to make sure that you have listings you can flip on and off.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you sell Halloween products or costumes or whatever else, like people will throw parties in the summertime.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great time.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean FBA inventory end, you know, sell it out, have a f listing, just where you're being impact.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when two before your season kicks back on, send some products into FBA and you know, start that flywheel.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: The impact of being out of stock.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I usually say to people that like you gotta have some type of FBA, FBM backup, because going out of stock is just a killer.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is a good segue to like asking why is operational efficiency so important for maintaining a strong BSR.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um love for you to talk about that a little bit.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh operational efficiency is your ability to maintain inventory and a healthy amount of inventory in Amazon pretty much at all times.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so what and you'll see it like if anybody, I think we've all experienced at some point when you see a product sell out of stock or you discontinue a product, it is like only a matter of days before your BSR just skyrocketing out of control.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it takes like it could take you a week to lose, you know, thousands of BSR points or whatever those ranking increments are, and it could take you months to build it back.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Granted, Amazon looks at your most recent sales velocity and over the course of the last two years, not the lifetime of the product, to understand how your sales ranked is, but the longer that recent gap is for how two, three, four months, it could be almost like starting back from so uh Chris that does affect us operational, making sure your inventory orders enough to keep stock to maintain your doing demand forecasting, then uh how much you need to have to marketplaces and to your point, having your fulfilled by merchant set up so that if whatever takes 10 days, yes, your sales velocity will slow down, but it's worse stock than it is for your customers to get their product.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Shipping is almost exact.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: You could put shipping pricings in there uh if it makes sense, we'll have implications sales.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Are you an online seller struggling to navigate the complexities of marketplace management?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Let Belavix help.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Our dedicated team of professionals are passionate, innovative, and committed to excellence to growing your brand on marketplaces.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: With Bellovix, you can trust your brand with the personalized support and expertise that will help you stand out from the competition.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: We understand that every brand is unique, which is why we tailor our approach to fit your specific needs.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're ready to take the brand to the next level in marketplaces, contact Bellovix today.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let us help you achieve your goals to grow your brand.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then my my next question is what do you usually see people doing wrong about when it comes down to um it could be them them going out of inventory, but when it comes down to maintaining BSR, what do you see a lot of sellers doing wrong right now?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh pulling back on advertising, I would say the number one thing, number two would be in a lot of times, and we'll see it a lot, like uh we work with other seasonal brands that, although I have great case studies, they don't share our philosophy advertising year-round, and um they'll cut our budgets to 10% of what it was, and not only the scale back process of that, but when the season kicks back on, having to scale that back up and losing efficiency because more competitors are entering the market and they're entering with different marketing strategies and unique propositions around the product, it's better to maintain a healthier budget, at least enough, like I said, that you want to rank for and figure out what it takes to run ads on those all day, not run out of budgets.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where at minimum budget.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a small product or if it's super niche, then your top 20 words.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you want to identify like we want to be top of search for you know the keywords.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and staying budget throughout the entire day is so important, especially for these big promotional events like Prime Day, where I've heard in the last like five hours of Prime Day where people make like almost like tens of thousands of dollars because everyone runs out of budget by that time, and you can just advertise like crazy on the last five hours of that particular day and just make an insane amount of money.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, can you go into a little bit about how to track that and how to maintain budget throughout the entire day and making sure you're not getting that out of budget sign from Amazon?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, first, if you're using any AI software, it'll kind of do it for you, which is great.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh during big sales days, we will go in and we check our accounts every couple hours, uh, all day into the evening.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Prime day is Amazon's holiday, so all hands on deck uh at Belavic.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we use we will use software analytics, could send out email alerts, uh, and we actually physically go in and someone from the team is checking it every couple hours.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily, Amazon's algorithm is far enough smart enough to say, hey, you're at a bow, you're at 80% efficiency, and you're able to go in and incrementally.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Ideally, you're running it on the campaign instead of like a generic button, which allows for an efficient campaigns do.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but ideally it's level and you can monitor to say, hey, you know, we're seeing pretty good sales.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Understand that a lot more sales are going to trickle in over the days, and then seven days due to sales attribution.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you'll know what campaigns are your powerhouse campaigns.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: You should have been running them two to three weeks before the big event anyway, so that you're you kind of know what roughly what you'll be spending.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but leverage software, and if you're using an AI solution, it handles a lot of your Fourier, it may not be the most efficient, um, but it does it.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then just check, go in and check your campaigns to make sure, you know, where am I at a budget and does it make sense in this specific case to add more budget?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times you may want to just have have your ad show up for somebody searching really relevant, even though you don't get a lot of sales.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you're conquesting somebody searching a competitor brand, you're not gonna convert as well.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: But having a presence and adding that person into your DSP, so for retargeting, you can you may get that person in your funnel and you may not convert them on Prime Day, but they may have a bad experience, you may convert them at the next time they're gonna purchase your product or they're in market for something you're selling.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you talk about having adequate budget to maintain a strong BSR.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: How can someone, a seller, find what that adequate amount of budget is to really maintain that BSR and start increasing their level of sales?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so a lot of it's gonna be tied down to sales velocity, so a BSR, but it's a second, it's an indicator.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, we're more likely to focus on advertising cost of sale and making sure that there's some level of efficiency.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And like it's also not unusual in budget for your your top of the funnel separate than from your middle and lower and page views doesn't when we're looking at BSR, so it is literally like bottom of the funnel.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: What's L.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: So from BR, it could it could drive the short term.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: You want to kind of just like of course in a day business to make so you want to make sure that you're driving sales and you're monitoring that BSR and you're tracking your competitor pricing and you're checking how much stock they have.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's an opportunity you could take advantage of it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh from a budget perspective, set an efficiency standard, fancy about it, make sure for each phase of the funnel, bottom of the funnel, retargeting the brand, mid-funnel, what's up the ball request hoppers who are in market searching for your product or who are competitors, and then top of funnel, hence demographic, contextual, like people uh may not know they need your product, but they're likely to become a custom awareness, and then having kick-ass content to help push.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you talked a little bit about the algorithmic changes that Amazon is always changing, um, how they measure sales velocity, how they manage BSR, and things like that.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think the future of BSR is?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Q4 is coming up.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: We all gotta like maximize sales as much as possible.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to someone when it comes to the future of BSR and the future of sales velocity in Amazon algorithm?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't change that much because it's an indicator that Amazon wants to provide world classic mappers on the platform, so they're only gonna present product that are gonna generate the best sales.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what's changed is Amazon getting AI?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: What AI means for sellers who influencing the in-contributors that are gonna help move your BSR.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: So like search optimization.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: So now that everybody's using AI, they're getting a lot of the same results.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: So how to differentiate your product?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the ability to create images and quality experiences on Amazon video 60 degree images through all these other um tools we have is gonna help improve the rate, getting more eyeballs and conversion rate goes into sales, which will lend direct.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do I think it'll change?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it will change because it's an indicator.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just about sales that now what technology is changing Amazon in the marketplace.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's all AI, it's their fulfillment, it's how they're cracking down a bit, it's their process for allowing sellers to come sell, it's become more shorter, uh, brand registry enforcement of map policy, like all these other facets that you have to deal with as a seller, unfortunately, in order to move sales into the KPIs that are gonna make the biggest impact to your business that influence VSR.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: And when Amazon implements really like this AI model inside to where like they like all these people that, for example, buy couches, and then all of a sudden they realize when they need a couch, they all of a sudden need a TV because they're realizing they're moving in.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're going, it's gonna be insane the level of AI technology um once Amazon implements this, and it's gonna really change the game of how we get sales on Amazon.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: And um, do you have any other insights there when it comes down to how sellers could prepare for that?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's tough to prepare for it.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I will say if you're interested in reading up on it, science.amazon.com has a lot of literature on how it does recommendations and how it's changing over time, how they're using AI technology to put this in place.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at the end of the day it's just creating the best product you can and having the top, top customer experience, being customer-centric.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: But like those are the qualities of brands that succeed on Amazon.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's definitely in the next five years, if not like three years, how we experience Amazon is gonna change.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh again, Andy Jassy over there is making a bunch of changes and it's exciting.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, also a little stressful for some of our sellers.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I think if you if you monitor it and continue to follow best practices, you'll be okay in the long run.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, less people are recommending Amazon.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's it continues to grow in terms of its market share and its influence on media and everything else.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a bohemist.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else that's been top of mind when it comes down to any topics that we've talked about could be about BSR or just Amazon in general that you've been wanting to communicate lately?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're really diving deep into streaming TV.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have our first few clients that were running through the program.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and what's interesting is some of the things that they can do in streaming TV that's excited.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, not only do we have the ability to target customers based on their interest and shows they like, uh, QR codes can be embedded.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're actually working with uh clients who are putting their products into TV shows through Amazon.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Amazon created their own media company, so they're creating these TV shows and they're pulling brands in to say, like, you know, Coca-Cola isn't paying us to have their can of soda.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll have, you know, our can of soda from somebody who paid for streaming TV in the background of some of these shops.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, like their ability to work with sellers and a level the playing field.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, you don't need a ton of money.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, Amazon's running a promotion that's like uh$15,000, I think is the minimum investment over the course of 60 days, and they'll make the commercial for you.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll they got a media team, they'll go in, they'll make the commercial, have all these features in it, and you know, have access to different audiences on the top of the funnel.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: We'll even run the DSP campaigns if you don't want to work uh with an agency.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: So streaming TV is top of mind.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: When I went to um the event they had in New York, I'm drawing a blank.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it was all about the new shows they're launching, uh, how their media is growing and their footprint, uh, how they're incorporating it with search and shoppers, and like what it's gonna mean.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: So Amazon's clear they're in the media game now, and it's about advertising through these different outlets and having these niche uh users and audiences that we could target with ads.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, from a mid to upper funnel perspective, it's a huge opportunity.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting efficient, and we have really good metrics to measure that impact over the short term and the long term.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: And is there anything else that you've been excited about or anything else that you've been wanting?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you talked about streaming TV.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else that you've been wanting to communicate that you're excited about for this upcoming Q4 that you're preparing for right now?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, Q4?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, outside of promotional restrictions.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, it's it's about to be prime day, to be honest with you.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, like right now, it's a lot of like we got our deals, we're making sure I think June 20th is a cutoff day to get like all your inventory over there.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, you know, as much as I'd love to dive in the Q4 because that is the time to make some money, uh, it's about preparing Prime Day.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: So making sure uh all of our prime day promotions are on point.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're getting pretty close.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna be like the third week of July.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if anybody's in vendor central, you can go in and you'll notice like week one purchase orders, level week two, purchase orders normal, week three, big purchase orders coming in.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um for us, like third week of July, I'm pretty sure I think that's the week of the 15th, is gonna be prime day.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: So for us, it's like uh making sure we have assets right now and all that other fun stuff to make sure uh when this event comes that we are we're hitting it with uh we're hitting the ground running and making sure we're maximizing our impact for the brands we represent.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh just real fast, it what can people be doing right now, be preparing for the most to make the most of their prime day?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Inventory number one, like if you don't have inventory in there now, you are getting close to that cutoff.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: So uh if you haven't contact your 3PL, your manufacturer, start shipping in.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh number two, because we're about 30 days out, give or take, great time to start building audiences.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have access to program, no big deal.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Use Amazon display ads and just start working up the funnel.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Lift yourselves now because you it will have an impact on Prime Day.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: So even from a top that we use, go up two, three, four percent and dedicate that to in-market and conquesting and just start building those audiences would be number two.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Three promotion strategies.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you miss the boat and you don't have any Amazon deal, any prime day deals, run coupons, run coupons and promote those coupons.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're just as good, they'll get just as much engagement.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're not just as good, but they will get engagement, it's better than nothing.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Your shoppers are expecting to come onto Amazon and to find a deal.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, off the top of my head, those are the three things you could be doing right now, and a lot of it's preparing.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't, video content, assets like have them have a good experience for your customers on your storefront and on the product detail pages.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: That makes it a no-brainer for me to add Descartes and uh and make a purchase.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, wow.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Will, so much for all that.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know we can go on this for seven more hours, but that's all we have time for today.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Will, please tell the audience how to find you, how to find more about Bellvix and everything else like that.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can always reach me uh on LinkedIn.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am pretty active.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: So just search Will Hare, like on your head, but with an E, and I'll come up and I share information about Amazon pretty much every day.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: We keep on top of the news and updates, and I share feedback, uh, case studies, so on and so forth.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: And subscribe to our newsletter if you jump on to bellovex.com on the bottom of the page.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: We have a newsletter we send out uh once every other week.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: One item is about news, the next item is about uh some type of deep dive.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the last one that was just released is about using chat GPT uh in order to help uh like actually what you can do, specific prompts and commands you can put in uh to use it to help with listings and creating copy and all the other things you can do with chat GPT, which is pretty cool.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so check me out on LinkedIn.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check out the website and be sure to subscribe to a newsletter.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, thank you so much for that.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Will, thank you so much for joining.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, thank you everyone for watching.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: This is Selling on Giants, the e commerce marketplace show.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: And thanks for watching, and we'll catch you next time.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, guys.