Episode Summary

Seller Mania was a summer fever event hosted by the E-com Cooperative for Amazon FBA Sellers. The first-ever Seller Mania, put on by the Ecom Co-operative, was a huge success.  The Ecom Co-operative is a newly formed co-op composed of Gold Star Service and Solution Providers in the Amazon space. The event began with a contest featuring prizes donated by co-op members.  Participants were invited to spin the wheel and win high-level consultations and prizes designed to help grow their Amazon FBA business. Prizes were valued at $1500 all the way up to $5000, so participating was well worth the investment in time. Of course, the event saw a few gag prizes as well.

 

Next up was the keynote address by Liran Hirschkron. Liran spoke about Updates to Amazon’s Advertising. Liran began with general observations about the Amazon Advertising Landscape. A major upward trend is the Cost Per Click price increases Amazon sellers are keenly tuned into. CPC went up 69% with the average up from $0.77 to $1.21. This is mainly due to the massive push from retail towards e-commerce over the past year, largely due to Covid-19. Other factors include aggregators, having more money to spend, non-organic placement ads, and increased demand for sponsored display ads.

 

There are also a series of new features Amazon is launching that sellers need to be aware of. The new creative assets tab allows you to store all your images for custom image beta, which means better image quality. There is an increase in video placements and they can be viewed on search results pages where sellers can target specific ASINS. There is also a new targeting tab that allows sellers to view top performers, bottom performers, and other filtered data that sellers use to make better advertising decisions. 

 

The Storefront engagement tab also houses a lot of data such as specific ASIN level data to see impressions, add to carts, conversions, etc. This helps sellers understand how well the product is performing, and what to test, and how to position products within their store. In fact, the new features also allow for much easier A/B testing. A/B testing allows sellers to manage experiments by split testing the audience in real-time and highlighting impacts to changes with split testing.

 

Liran then went over campaign setup and structure in order to help sellers maximize product visibility. The key to maximum visibility is segmentation. Sellers need to start with proper keyword research. Then use segmenting to find keywords that aren’t getting impressions, move them into their own campaign and keep segmenting.  Liran stressed that this is an ongoing effort. Another tool in any seller’s toolbox should be manual ASIN research. This includes continually harvesting the highest volume ASINS and segmenting those with no impressions. 

 

One way to use this tool is through sponsored display, which is meant to perform as more of a top-funnel display and to be more about brand awareness. This, like any type of Amazon advertising, requires testing. 

 

Liran finished off by recommending that sellers build out their storefront using repeated testing and keyword research. He reminded the audience that Amazon is driving traffic from the detail page to Amazon storefronts, and he also mentioned the value of Amazon Posts. Amazon Posts are free real estate, where customers can follow your brand. Much like the constructs of social media engagement is everything and as this feature is still free, sellers should take advantage of it, as the program continues to advance. Features like messaging are a real possibility in which direct communication with the seller and audience will be permitted. It’s hard to say what great features will be released next within Amazon Posts, but it’s time to dive into this free benefit.

 

Next up was the Questions & Answer panel featuring; Yana with YLT Translations, Yoni with GETIDA, Tim Jordan an Amazon Consultant, Liz with Teikametrics, & Liran Hirschkron – with Incrementum Digital. The panel was asked moderator-led questions, along with questions for the audience. 

 

Discussion centered around Amazon seller best practices, upcoming trends, and seller-specific tips. Highlights included a conversation around marketing plans focused on internal vs external Amazon traffic, where participants concluded that it is very important to focus on both.  Participants agreed that sellers must be more image-focused than in the past and that it’s important to include personal branding and external traffic movers like google ads, as part of any marketing strategy. 

 

The panel also discussed best practices for listings, including monitoring competitor’s traffic and keywords, doing keyword research, finding smaller keywords that are lower search volume but higher conversion, and using great copywriting and keywords to improve traffic. 

 

Panelists also discussed expanding into other markets, something they agreed should be done after a solid foundation in the US and only after learning as much as possible about the Amazon world. 

 

Finally, some of the panelists from the Q & A and other co-op members spent a bit of time updating the audience on their organizations.  

 

Kevin spoke about Thraiso’s mission is to engage with sellers and build relationships. Thraiso scaled to 1200 employees worldwide, including in Boston, NYC, Houston, London, Germany, Japan and has made over 100 millionaires.  

 

Jana from YLT reminded sellers that expansion is key to an Amazon business, specifically into non-English markets and that labeling must be in the language of the country sellers are selling in.  YLT is currently doing roughly 3000 products a month in international markets.

 

Andrew with Marknology agreed that expanding internationally is key, moving to a country as Australia or Japan can really supplement a seller’s business. It is also important to focus on the branding and storytelling aspect of brand building as the days of selling one of the products on Amazon have come to a near halt.

 

Liz spoke about how Teikametrics is moving forward with FlyWheel 2.0. Liz’s colleague Cameron Yoder is putting out great content with successful brands they are in contact with. The concept is simple, sharing success stories, highlighting the possibility in Amazon, and fostering that great sense of community in the Amazon space.

 

All in all Seller Mania was a jam-packed event building community and providing resources and education for sellers of all labels and aspirations. The next Seller Mania event will be posted in an upcoming tGETIDA newsletter, so be sure to check back for further details.

 

If you’re curious GETIDA is the global leader in FBA reimbursements and proudly sponsors Seller Mania events.

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