Successful Selling on Amazon with Kiri Masters - Episode 154

THE CPG GUYS PODCAST REPLAY

 

DESCRIPTION

CPG eCommerce industry icon Sri Rajagopalan and consumer loyalty guru Peter V.S. Bond explore how brands and retailers engage with consumers in-store, online, and everywhere in between. In this episode Sri and PVSB are interviewing Kiri Masters and talking about what’s happening in the world of Amazon and 3p marketplaces, how have things changed during the pandemic, should you focus on Amazon vs DTC if you’re a start-up, what’s the difference between media and paid search advertising on Amazon, and sharing some tips and hacks vs strategic goal setting, and some advice for the Q4.

Tune in to learn more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Amazon 1p vs 3p: which channel is a superior option for a brand is a case by case basis - certainly, the 3p marketplace is a lot larger in terms of assortment and GMV, than the 1p side of the house.

  • Impact of the pandemic on eCommerce - highly category- and location-specific: 

    • Fashion - not a necessity, challenged in the first months of the pandemic. 

    • CPG and Home Improvement - seeing great growth. 

    • “Sheltered-in-place” restrictions - client in San Francisco couldn’t get to the warehouse to ship the packages.

  • Amazon and DTC require different skillsets, especially when it comes to start-ups:

    • Take Amazon for what it is - a traffic bounty, that’s where the search is happening and people are going to be more willing to try something from Amazon, having Prime shipping credibility.

    • DTC - Building the customer relationship and data set, learning who they are and what they like, that’s not possible with Amazon. 

  • Search advertising (PPC) is a bottom of funnel advertising activity and Media advertising (Amazon DSP) is more top of the funnel.

  • If you’re not running PPC campaigns than the media campaigns are a bit of a waste because you’ll have a leaky funnel at the bottom.

  • What is the goal (different strategies for different goals): 

    • Profitability - retargeting past shoppers, retargeting viewers of competitor products, targeting branded search terms. 

    • Market share and growth - aggressive search strategy and build the top of the funnel, DSP media strategy. 

  • Amazon is a democracy in action, it’s the same tools for everyone, advertising, reporting, no difference between large companies and start-ups.

  • The importance of copy and SEO: it’s foundational, Amazon is a search engine, it needs a way to arrange search results - if the keywords aren’t relevant, the conversion rate will drop.

  • Winning on Amazon:

    • You need to set a goal if you are measuring progress, stick to it for 12 months, and see what happens (for many brands Amazon is challenging to get profitable). 

    • Respond to some of the new programs and experiments that are free and provide traffic for smaller brands: Amazon Posts, Live Streaming.

  • This holiday season will be difficult to prepare for, especially the Prime Day: some brands are going to opt-out (it takes 20-30 days for Amazon to receive FBA inventory), other brands are making hay while the sun shines, for certain categories, it’s essential to go all-in on the Prime Day

  • There are some brands for which Walmart doesn’t seem reasonable, but generally, you wanna be where the shoppers are, and for CPG brands Walmart has had great results (however, it’s not a great choice for start-ups). 

  • It’s still far less robust on the consumer side than Amazon, with 10% of the traffic in comparison to Amazon.

  • Walmart Plus has had an underwhelming starting point, the timing is questionable.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Season 3Kiri MastersComment