The Amazon For CMOs Series: Discussion With Jim Morgan, Head of ECommerce at Vita Coco - Episode 160

BY KIRI MASTERS AND MARK POWER 

DESCRIPTION

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Amazon for CMOs, we are releasing a few of the interviews Mark Power and I did with CMOs and retail executives, exploring some of the themes from the book. In the first episode of the Amazon for CMOs miniseries, we had a conversation with Jim Morgan, head of eCommerce at VitaCoco. 

Jim is talking about his journey in Vita Coco, the company’s beginnings on Amazon in 2006,  and building foundations for success in eCommerce. He offers his point of view on where does Amazon fits in the organization, and how could we utilize Amazon as a growth channel in the best way. 

Tune in today and listen to the interview with Jim Morgan!

Jim started at Cadbury, in finance, and has always been working for consumer goods companies. He was always very close to marketing and interested in getting more brand roles, so he worked his way up and ended at Vita Coco in the insights function, just so he would later become the head of eCommerce.

“If you want to kick that flywheel off, you spend it upfront, build it up faster, get it up organically, and then you can ease off on it.”
— Jim Morgan

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Where does Amazon functionally fit in the organization? 

    • In Vita Coco eCommerce is moved to Strategy.

  • Having a strategy is a good starting point when it comes to eCommerce.

  • Amazon is not just a distribution channel. Now, Amazon is about brand building and awareness.

  • Reasons for Vita Coco’s eCommerce success:

    • Basics are important.

    • Content.

    • Making sure you have a great product in order to look better than the competition.

    • Having the right assortment.

    • Customer satisfaction.

  • Everything is interconnected and you need to understand all of the inputs. 

  • Share of Voice - a very important metric on Amazon.

  • Jim explains how should CMOs look at the Amazon opportunity.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Season 3Kiri MastersComment