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.
• For those starting with FBM, you need to do multiple test runs on your Amazon site before it goes live. Test the API connection with your 3PL to make sure the 3PL data is transferred into the Amazon dashboard.
• 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.
• When making your listings, consider making them cohesive to how you are packing the product. Build out your master cases, pallet counts, flavors and SKUs that are available on Amazon as ASINs.
• 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

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