Ask Me Anything

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast.

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This is the podcast for you if

you're getting started selling

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products or if you'd like to

create your own product to sell.

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I'm Vicky Weinberg, a product

creation coach and Amazon expert.

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Every week I share friendly practical

advice as well as inspirational

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stories from small businesses.

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Let's get started.

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Hi and welcome to the fourth

anniversary episode of Bring

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Your Product Idea to Life.

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Um, I am so excited that You're

listening to this four years in and

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today, today, today, the day the

episode is released, not today, the

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day I'm recording is my birthday.

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So that's super exciting too.

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So for this episode, I wanted to do

something different and you might

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have seen that on social media and

in my emails, I've been asking you

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to submit your questions that I

can answer on this podcast episode.

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Thank you so much to everyone

who submitted a question.

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I can't answer all of them and actually I

literally can't answer all of them because

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some of them are just not in my area of

expertise, but I am going to do my best.

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Um, so if I haven't answered your

question, um, Thank you for sending

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it and hopefully I can do another

one of these episodes in the

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future and be able to answer more.

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I would love to know what kind of

things you'd like to see me talk

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about over the next four years.

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Um, let me know.

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I'm always open to feedback.

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Um, If you enjoy this episode,

um, I can do more like this.

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If there's any content you'd like me to

see me cover, of course, let me know.

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And as always, don't worry.

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Um, there will be lots of amazing guests

and I actually have guests on the podcast

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booked up, um, oh, I want to say until

like this autumn, which is mind blowing,

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but, um, yeah, so that's exciting.

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So I have taken the questions, um, I've

gone through them, I've selected the

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ones I'm going to answer today, and I've

tried to sort of group them a little bit.

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So the first questions that I'm going to

answer are ones that are related to me.

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And the first question is, how did

you make the transition from product

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business to product launch consultant?

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So, I, um, Um, I actually talked a bit

about my story back in episode 14, but

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of course, especially if you're a new

listener to the podcast, don't expect

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you to go all the way back to then.

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So I will try and summarize my story here.

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Um, and I'll actually say as well

that I wouldn't consider myself

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to be a product launch consultant.

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Um, I did.

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That is something I used to

specialize in, but now I'm very

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much focused on selling on Amazon.

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I don't offer any services

in terms of product creation.

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I spoke about that in a podcast episode

earlier this year, like why that is, my

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reasons for it and what I can help you

with now, which is selling on Amazon.

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However, my book is available

still in print, still on Amazon.

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So if you do want help with

bringing a product idea to life,

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um, the book is an amazing resource

for that if I say so myself.

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So.

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And I'll link to that in the show

notes, so you can, you can get my book.

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So, um, in terms of my story, back

when my daughter, my, who's my

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second child was born, which was

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hadn't been able to work for a while.

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I'd done various things.

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I was running a children's yoga business

at the time, but the problem was, Sort of

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the issues I had within pregnancy meant

I couldn't actually teach yoga because

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teaching yoga to children is a lot of

getting off on, um, down to the floor,

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back up again, um, couldn't do that.

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Like physically it wasn't in a good way

really and so I couldn't actually teach.

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So I had some lovely teachers working

for me going into nurseries and

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preschools and delivering the sessions.

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Um, and I was running the business

side of the business, but actually that

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point we were fairly well established.

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There wasn't actually much for me to do.

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And as.

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Silly as this might sound, given that

I'm telling you this is my second child,

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I had a three year old and a baby.

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I was actually like a bit sort of restless

and wanting to just do something else.

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I had a podcast.

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Um, I can remember which podcast,

can I remember what it was?

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I'm not sure I can actually back now,

but I was listening to a podcast episode

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and it was talking, oh yes I can.

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It was talking about passive income

and um, They had some guests on the

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podcast and they were talking about,

it was two men and they were talking

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about how they had just launched

their own range of yoga products.

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I think it was yoga mats and a

few other things and they were

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selling these products on Amazon

and they were living this like

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laptop lifestyle where they were.

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traveling the world and working by

swimming pools and things and obviously

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with a young family that was what I say

obviously but maybe not obviously but

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that wasn't what I was after at that

time but I did kind of think hmm that

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sounds like something I could do that

would give me a lot of freedom I don't

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have to be In a certain place at a

certain time, it seemed very flexible.

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Like I could work around my

family, which is what I needed.

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So I started looking into ideas

for products and I launched my

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own brand of premium baby products

towards the end of that year.

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I think it took me about nine months

to go from idea to having products

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for sale and I, Started selling

my products initially on Shopify.

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I then put them on Amazon.

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Um, and I did a lot of research into

Amazon before going ahead and doing that.

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I always thought that I would sell lots

of, you know, Shopify would be the thing.

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And I had this website and I actually

had a blog that I set up before I even

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had any products for sale, where I was

sort of talking about my journey and what

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I was doing and the steps I was going

through and the mistakes I was making

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and all of this in sort of lifetime.

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And I always thought, Oh, the.

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You know, the website will be where

people will find me and my products

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and they'll come and buy them.

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And yes, people did buy on the

website, but a lot more people

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bought my products on Amazon.

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Um, although the website turned out to

be useful for another reason is the blog,

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which was just something I was doing in

the hope of, you know, helping people

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find information became two things.

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It was a starting point for this

podcast because as I mentioned, I

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got the idea for my business from a

podcast and I started thinking, Hmm,

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there isn't a podcast out there.

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Entirely what I'm looking for.

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So when I was trying to find information

about selling products, creating

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products, selling on Amazon, everyone

I heard from on these podcasts was

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so much further ahead than I was.

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And I was like, there's nothing

that's just feels relatable to me.

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Um, which was the catalyst for this

podcast that you're listening to four

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years on, so that's really exciting.

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Um, and that also was how I ended

up being a consultant as well,

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because people were finding me.

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Through my blog and they were saying,

oh, I want to create a product

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and you know, how did you go about

manufacturing or where did you do?

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Where did you do this or

can you give advice on that?

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And I was giving out tons of advice

and I reached a point where I was

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like, I've been giving away lots of

advice for free And I want to say this

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was my bright idea, but it wasn't it

was my husband He kept saying you're

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giving all this advice away for free.

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You could be charging people.

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I had a lot of imposter syndrome And I

was like, I can't be charging people.

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I'm not an expert.

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Um, but as soon as I sort of realized,

actually, I don't need to be an expert.

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I just need to be able to genuinely

help the person who needs my help.

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I need to know a bit more than

them and be able to add value

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that kind of change things for me.

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And I started doing a bit of freelancing,

helping people with various aspects

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of Creating a product to sell.

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Um, and then, you know, time went on.

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I got better and better at Amazon.

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Amazon, as I alluded to was like

most of my product sales were on

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Amazon rather than my own website.

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I got quite good at it.

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People started asking for help on that.

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pandemic hit, so almost exactly.

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The same week actually was the same week.

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This podcast launched a podcast.

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First episodes came out the first week

we were in lockdown in the UK and around

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that time, Amazon made some changes as

well, um, to the kinds of products that

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could be sold and fulfilled by Amazon.

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And there were lots of businesses

wanting to get onto Amazon at that time.

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And I suddenly became really

busy at the same time.

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I was running out of my own

products to sell because the stock

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was running down really fast,

but the factories were closed.

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I couldn't get any more products made.

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Then of course, there were

lots of shipping issues.

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Um, so actually all kind of,

I don't know if it was a happy

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accident, coincidence, but I started

helping lots of other businesses

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selling their products on Amazon.

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And I realized that actually

I really, really enjoy it.

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And I think that I get more

fulfillment from helping others

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sell their products than I did.

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Um, I also realized that for me it was

a way of connecting and working with

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other people, which was something I

think I missed since having my children.

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I, you know, left the corporate

world where I was going to an office

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and I was like being with people

every day and I didn't actually

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realize how much I valued that.

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So yeah, so that is my story.

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I said that was a quick version, but

actually possibly not that quick,

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but that is really how I got into it.

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And over the years I've just.

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Refined what I do and what I offer.

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So as I mentioned, I don't offer any

services around product creation anymore.

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I focus very much on selling on Amazon.

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That's definitely my area of

expertise and if you need any help

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with Amazon, you know where to come.

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So the second question is also about me

and my business and this person is asking

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how much of my business do I outsource?

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So, honest answer is lots.

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At the moment, I think

I outsource quite a lot.

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However, this has grown over the years.

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When I started, in fact, when I started

all of my businesses, it was just me.

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I had nobody else doing anything.

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As I mentioned, when I had my yoga

business, I hired some teachers

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to deliver some of the sessions.

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That was the first time I'd

ever Worked with somebody else.

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And then when I had my products

business, the very first thing I

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outsourced was the accountancy.

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I'm not very good at the bookkeeping

side of things, hold my hands up to that.

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And so that was the very

first thing I outsourced.

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And I actually feel, my personal

opinion is the things that you don't

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enjoy and that you aren't good at

do seem like a really good place to

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start when it comes to outsourcing.

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So I have used a few accountants

over the years because I I think that

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getting the right accountant is really

important because obviously the finances

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is such a key part of your business.

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So at the moment I use Wendy

Ross from Tunbridge Accountants.

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Um, Wendy will actually be sponsoring

some future episodes of this podcast.

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Couldn't recommend Tunbridge

Accountants highly.

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Enough.

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I'm not being paid to

say that in this episode.

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Um, but Wendy is amazing because she,

at the time was able, well, she's, she's

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amazing now, but what I think was really

valuable when I was running a products

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business and the consultancy, because

there were There was a period of a

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couple of years where I was running both

businesses and she was great at handling

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both sides which I think is really

important because the business was quite

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complex because I had all the freelance

work I was doing and then there's the

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product side and yeah and I think she did

a great job at that and trust her entirely

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and I think having a great accountant

especially as you grow is so so important.

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Then the next thing that I

outsourced was the podcast.

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podcast production.

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So as you can hear, it is me

recording all these episodes.

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I also book my own guests.

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I plan the episodes.

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If I'm interviewing a guest,

I plan what I'm asking them.

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I actually recorded a

whole episode about that.

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The process of this podcast,

which is episode one, nine, three.

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So you can go back and listen to that

if you want to, but what I do have now

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is a team who helps me with things like

getting the podcast file uploaded to

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the relevant places, speaking to guests,

you know, sharing the episode and the

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artwork with them, actually creating

the artwork, creating some of the

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social posts you see for the podcast.

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So.

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I, I definitely am the person

who is booking in the guests

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and speaking with the guests and

planning the content for the podcast.

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But once the episode is recorded, um, I do

have some support to go from getting the

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episode recorded to getting it released.

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I started doing that a few weeks ago.

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Years ago because I felt that, um, it

was coming up to the summer and I was

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really panicking about because back then

I was doing everything for the podcast.

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I was starting panicking.

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It's going to be the summer holidays.

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How will I get an episode out every week?

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I'm going away for two weeks

and realized I need some help.

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So I now work with Jennifer

Cooper, Time Saver and her team

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and Jenny and her team are amazing.

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Um, it doesn't matter whether Jenny's on

holiday or someone else is on holiday.

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That team between them, make sure

that I have a podcast episode out

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every single week, which is amazing

and definitely puts my mind at rest.

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And it's also enabled me to

work much further ahead as well.

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So now I have episodes recorded

and edited and lined up.

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You know, ready to go weeks, if not

months in advance, which is, which is

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amazing and gives me a lot of peace

of mind that should I be ill or should

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I go away for a couple of weeks, I

can actually take a break and the

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podcast will continue without me.

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And I think, um, and this wasn't in

the question, but I think that is one

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of the reasons I've been able to keep

this podcast going for four years.

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It's just that there's just a

consistent, um, flow of content.

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I never, ever want to miss an episode.

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And then speaking about the podcast,

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started outsourcing podcast editing

because up until that point,

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I was still doing the editing.

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So that was another piece I was doing.

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I now have a podcast editor again.

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I tried a few so he's not the first

podcast editor I started working with.

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Um, I think he's maybe the third

because you have to find somebody that

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You know, works for you is responsive.

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You're happy with the quality.

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Um, and I have that now and then I've

outsourced other things as and when.

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So for example, my website was built by

Marie Brown from Beyond The Kitchen Table.

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Before working with Marie, I'd

always built my own websites.

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I've used things like WordPress,

Wix, various platforms.

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However, I got to a point where

I was like, do you know what?

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I want a really professional website.

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So I actually worked with Cara Benden

who did my branding and after Cara

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had done this beautiful branding

for me, I was like, I want a new

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website that reflects my branding.

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However, I don't think I'm

capable of building that myself.

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And also probably more

importantly, I have the time.

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And I think the further I've gone into my

business, the busier I've got supporting

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my clients, the more I've been able to

outsource the things that take time.

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But, you know, And not necessarily my

area of expertise or not necessarily the

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things I should be spending my time on.

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And as I said, I outsource

other things as and when.

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So I've outsourced PR before, social

media, some ad hoc admin tasks.

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I've actually just started getting

a bit more admin support now

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as I get busy with my clients.

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Something that's sort of been

on my mind is that I don't want,

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you know, the running of the

business to sort of fall behind.

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But the only thing that I don't

outsource and do not ever foresee

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me outsourcing is client work.

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So if you work with me, you'll

always be working with me.

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I'm the only person who has access

to my clients, Amazon's accounts.

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I'm the only person who does any

hands on work for my clients.

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And that's kind of the way

I want to run my business.

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It's one of the And that's part of

the reason that I'm outsourcing other

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things because eventually I'd love

to get to the point where the only

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thing I do is record these podcast

episodes and work with clients.

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That is the ultimate goal and to

have people to support me with

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the rest of the business which

Doesn't necessarily need to be me.

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So we now have some

questions about Amazon.

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So the first question is, do you have

any recommendations for how to manage

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the bookkeeping of Amazon sales?

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Um, disappointingly, I'm going to

have to say, no, I'm really sorry.

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Bookkeeping, as I've mentioned before,

isn't my area of expertise and.

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I suggest finding a great

accountant, as I've spoken about

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earlier, or finding some software.

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So in the original question,

um, the questioner said they

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use software called free agent.

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I don't know free agent, um, but

you know, have a look into software.

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You can find that can help you ultimately.

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You know, Amazon bookkeeping, the

reports you get are what they are.

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I can certainly help you by pointing

in the direction of what's available,

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what you can download, where you

can find it, but really you need

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to be working with an accountant.

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The second question is how much

should you budget for or expect to pay

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for product images and what sort of

licensing agreement would you recommend?

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Again, because I'm being really honest

here, this is not my area of expertise.

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Um, because as I've mentioned, My

area of expertise is Amazon and

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while I have a Well, I have a lot

of expertise in creating products

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and bringing products to life.

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Um, you can't be the expert in

everything and yeah, product

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photography is not my area.

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Um, I would say that you should

be speaking to a photographer

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about licensing agreements.

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I know that whenever I've worked

with a photographer in the past,

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whether it's product images, whether

it's headshots, they have basically

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told me how images can be used, how

they need to be, um, referenced.

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Um, As you can tell,

you're not the expert.

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So I think you definitely need to

speak to a good product photographer.

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I've actually recorded two episodes

of product photographers that I

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think are a great place to start if

you're thinking about product images.

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So the first one is episode 34 with

Georgina Little and Georgina speaks

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about how to find a photographer, how to

work with photographer, what shots you

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need, how to put together a good brief.

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I think this is a really

great episode because.

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If you have a budget for product

photography, wherever that is, you

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want that budget to be put to good use.

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And Georgina has some really good

tips about how you can make sure

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that you're really getting everything

you need from a product photographer

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so that you know, you come away

from it with the images you want.

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You need, you're happy with the

images and you really feel you're

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getting your money's worth, you

know, whatever you're paying.

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And then the other episode is

episode 116 with Jade Tinkler.

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And Jade talks about how to

take your own product photos.

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Now I think this can be super useful

if you're on a budget, because Jade

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talks about, you know, the fact

that it is possible to take your

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own product photos and gives really

practical tips on how to do it.

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And.

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I know this is possible because

for my product business, I actually

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took my first product photos myself.

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This was way before I had a podcast or way

before I spoke to Jade about how to do it.

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I think I used a mixture of,

yeah, the internet, YouTube, and

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I managed to take my own photos.

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I edited them and they were passable

and have to say, you know, they

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were very basic photos, you know,

the product on a white background,

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however, they were good enough.

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And I think sometimes at the

beginning, good enough is good enough.

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Um, and yes, you know, I'm going

to be talking a bit later about the

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importance of having great product

images in particular, but when you're

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just getting started, especially if

you're on a budget, I do think that

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If you can take good product photos

yourself, that gets you off to a start.

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Once you start making some sales,

you have some money coming in.

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Perhaps you can then invest in getting

some professional photos taken.

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Um, and there were other

ways as well to get.

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Product photos taken

that are more affordable.

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I believe in one of the episodes, one

of the guests did speak about finding

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a photography student who might be

looking for to get work for a portfolio.

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So they might be able to offer

you photos slightly less.

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And then of course, if you've got

a bigger budget, but you're just.

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Trying to look for an idea

of how much you can spend.

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My gut feeling would be like, it's,

you know, like a piece of string.

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It very much is going to depend

on how many photos you need,

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the type of photos you need, the

experience of the photographer.

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So I can't give you a definitive answer.

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So apologies for that, but hopefully I've

given you enough that you can go away

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and find out a bit more for yourself.

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So the next question in the

Amazon category is, do you have

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any tips for getting ranked in

Amazon to increase visibility?

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So for anyone who doesn't know what

that means, ranking, it means in short

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where you show up in the search results.

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So when you type something into the Amazon

search bar, where do you show on the page?

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And obviously the higher the better.

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And yeah, I have loads of tips.

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I actually recorded a whole episode

on this, which is episode 180,

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how to rank higher on Amazon.

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And there is a blog post

of a company that podcast.

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So.

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Yeah, I have lots of information on this.

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However, I will do a quick overview

here because I appreciate you

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might not want to go away and dig

out another episode right now.

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Um, so as a recap, I think the person

has asked this question because where

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you show up on Amazon really matters.

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And I get people contacting me,

not as much as I used to, because

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I think I talk about this so much

now, but I used to get people.

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Same to me all the time.

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I can't find my own product listing.

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I've listed my product on

Amazon and I can't find it.

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As I say, I hear less of this now, but

I think it's because everyone knows

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my opinion on this, which is unless

you've put a lot of work into getting

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your listing found, and I am going to

talk a bit now about how to do that.

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You won't simply put, if you

put your product on Amazon and

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sit back and cross your fingers,

you're not going to rank at all.

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You know, you'll be lucky if you're

on page 10, page 20, and I'm,

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I feel really harsh saying that

every time, but it is the truth.

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So some statistics for you, um,

studies show that products on the

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first page of Amazon search results

get 80 percent of all clicks, at

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least 80 percent of all clicks.

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And the first three products on page

one get 60 percent of those clicks.

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So, you know, if you're not on page

one, it'd be much harder to get found

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because also how many shoppers, I

mean, think yourself, do you ever go

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past page one of the search results?

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I'd say very, I do very, very rarely.

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And I'm sure you're.

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The same.

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So yeah, being found, be ranking as

high as possible, ideally in those

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top three spots, although often you

will see that those top three spots

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are reserved for sponsor products.

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They're basically people

who've paid to be there.

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So if you want to be on the top of the

page organically or anywhere on page

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one, you need to put a bit of work

in and how ranking is established.

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So how Amazon decides who is shown where

other than if you're paying for ads,

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which is something completely different.

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But where you show up on the search

page organically, so without paying for

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it, is down to the Amazon algorithm.

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Now, you may have heard that this is quite

secretive, and I guess it is to a point.

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Amazon don't share tons about

their algorithm, but I'm going to

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tell you about what we do know.

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So there are two factors that determine

how well your product will rank on Amazon.

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So how high up it shows.

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So the first is performance

and conversion ranking factors.

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And the second is relevancy factors.

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So performance and

conversion ranking factors.

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What that basic means is how many

sales are you making and how well

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are your products converting?

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Because the more, The more products

you sell on Amazon and the more money

424

you make, the more money Amazon makes.

425

So Amazon are always going to

prioritize products that are already

426

selling well over newer products

that maybe haven't sold any or

427

products that are making fewer sales.

428

So often what you'll see at the top of the

search results for organic search is the

429

products that are selling the best in any,

you know, for any particular search term.

430

Speaking of search terms, the

second thing I spoke about,

431

the second factor is relevancy.

432

And what relevancy means is having a

well optimized product listing that

433

reflects the product you're selling.

434

Um, and this is conversions play a part

here too, because if you are showing

435

up for a particular search and you're

getting lots of clicks, so people, lots

436

of people are going to look at your

product, but they're not buying it.

437

The algorithm is going to assume that your

product isn't relevant for that search.

438

And this means that your ranking for that

particular keyword or phrase will drop.

439

And actually, when we talk about ranking,

something else to bear in mind is that you

440

will be ranking for different keywords.

441

So let's say you sell a hairbrush,

you might be looking to rank for, well

442

actually the term hairbrush would be

incredibly hard to rank for, but you

443

might be looking to rank for hairbrush

for curly hair, um, hairbrush with natural

444

fibres, whatever it was, you'd be looking

to rank for different stuff search terms.

445

Um, when we talk about ranking,

that's what we're talking about.

446

When someone types a particular word

or phrase, hopefully a phrase, because

447

it's incredibly hard to rank for words.

448

Someone types, types a phrase

into the search bar and you are

449

hoping to come up for that phrase.

450

You're hoping to rank for

that particular phrase.

451

And there will probably be, depending on

what you sell, a handful of, um, Keywords

452

and phrases that you want to rank for.

453

So hopefully that background has

helped because this will help

454

put the suggestions I'm about to

give you into a bit of context.

455

So the first thing you need to do is

have a great product listing that ranks

456

for relevancy because you, unless your

product is relevant and converting

457

well, you're going to struggle to

improve your product sales organically.

458

So it's, you know, it's

definitely a baseline.

459

Hopefully that makes sense.

460

It's like a chicken and

egg thing, isn't it?

461

But yeah, if your product listing is

really good and it's really relevant,

462

that will help with the relevancy factor,

but that will also help with the sales.

463

And the reviews as well, because if

your product isn't relevant, if your

464

title, your images, your listing doesn't

accurately reflect your product, you might

465

also find that that leads to more returns.

466

And having a high returns rate is

another thing that will impact,

467

negatively impact your ranking as well.

468

So in terms of what you do is, as

I said, most customers, they go

469

to Amazon, they're looking to buy

something and they type what they're

470

looking for into the search bar.

471

And that's why knowing what What

those words and phrases customers

472

are looking for is really important.

473

So your product listings need to have

a title, key features, description,

474

and search terms that are really well

written and they're well optimized

475

for Amazon's SEO, which I should

also say is different from Google.

476

Um, don't use Google keywords to find.

477

The keywords to use in your

Amazon listings because they won't

478

necessarily be the same because

obviously Google is a different

479

type of search engine than Amazon.

480

You also need to have really great images,

graphics, infographics on your listing.

481

If you're able to, you should

be taking advantage of Amazon

482

features such as A plus content.

483

You might want to have a store, um,

And I, I talk about these things in

484

a lot more detail in other episodes.

485

I won't go into great detail here.

486

And of course, if you have questions

about anything I'm saying, do get

487

in touch, um, and remember that

when you're looking at Amazon search

488

results page, you can see two things.

489

You can see a product image

and you can see the title.

490

So your main image has to work

really well to entice people to

491

click through to your listing.

492

So coming back to what we were speaking

about product photography earlier.

493

Amazon requires that your main

image is on a white background.

494

So that might be a good shot.

495

You know, that's a fairly simple shot.

496

However, it also has to be effective

at showing what your product is.

497

And of course, there are other things

that will affect, you know, your ranking.

498

So for example, your product price

and how you're fulfilling your orders.

499

But you know, that's all things that

we can go into in other episodes.

500

And um, I'll finally say that if you're

new on Amazon and you're looking to rank

501

or even if you've been on Amazon for a

while, you will need to put some work in

502

to get some sales and to get some product

reviews because that will help you start

503

ranking for the performance factor.

504

I hope this helps as an overview and

as I mentioned, I have a full episode

505

that goes into lots more detail.

506

Um, As you can tell, Amazon is something

I like talking about, so I've probably

507

went into quite a bit of detail here.

508

Um, but I do have a full episode and the

blog post if you want to learn even more.

509

And the final question I'm going to cover

today, because we're coming up to the

510

30 minute mark, and I do try and keep

these episodes, especially when it's just

511

me, relatively brief, because I'm not

sure how much of my voice you can hear.

512

You want to be listening to, and

my final question is, I recently

513

went out of stock on Amazon FBA.

514

I've heard this is the worst thing

ever, as it's hard to come back from.

515

Is there anything I need to

focus on to get back sales?

516

So I'll start by saying, don't

worry, it's not the worst thing ever.

517

I mean, having said

that, it's not helpful.

518

You know, you'd rather not go

out of stock, but it's not,

519

it's not the worst thing ever.

520

There are plenty worse

things you can do on Amazon.

521

Um, yeah, this isn't going to,

you know, you're not going to get

522

kicked off the platform for this.

523

You're not going to get penalized.

524

It's just annoying because once

you're out of stock, you are going to

525

start dropping through the rankings.

526

So we just spoke about rankings just now.

527

Um, and.

528

When you're out of stock,

obviously you're not making sales.

529

You're not getting reviews.

530

Other sellers are, so they're

going to get starting shown higher

531

on the search results page and

you're going to be shown lower.

532

So in terms of how to deal with

this, something I recommend to my

533

clients, if at all possible, is as

well as having an FBA offer on Amazon.

534

So for anyone who isn't clear, FBA is

where Amazon fulfills orders for you.

535

You send your information.

536

They also constantly allow you

to offer themaza So not only

537

does Amazon give you, um, but not

allowing users to do it with you.

538

But you also are being sent a request

and something like just moments later.

539

Okay.

540

When you set up your listings on Amazon,

you can effectively duplicate them so that

541

for one product, you have two listings.

542

You have the one that Amazon fulfills

and the one that you fulfill.

543

And it might be that you never

want to fulfill orders on

544

Amazon unless it's an emergency.

545

So therefore you just

set your stock level.

546

To zero for your FBM offer, but if

your FBA stock goes out, you might

547

want to think, actually, rather

than my ranking going down, I've

548

just been working so hard, you

know, I've been working really hard.

549

I'm getting shown on page one

near the top for my search terms.

550

If you really feel like

there's going to be an impact.

551

If you've been out of stock, and of course

that'll depend on, you know, whether you

552

can be out of stock for days or weeks,

and you have got stock yourself, whether

553

that's in the warehouse, your home,

wherever you fulfill orders from, and

554

you think, actually, I could fulfill.

555

These Amazon orders myself,

you could add some FBM stock.

556

That means that customers

can still buy your product.

557

They won't have the prime offer.

558

Although I do recommend if you're

fulfilling orders yourself, you offer the

559

fastest shipping service that you can.

560

Um, and two to three

days is fine by the way.

561

I'm not saying it has to be next day and

you offer the customer free delivery.

562

So it's completely free.

563

Parable to your FBA offer.

564

And that's a really nice way

of the customer still being

565

able to buy your product.

566

'cause you won't be shown as outta stock.

567

It would just mean that they'll

wait slightly longer to get it

568

and you'll be fulfilling it.

569

So that is one thing you

can do to prevent that.

570

That's quite a long answer I

know, but I genuinely think

571

that can be really helpful.

572

If not, so if that's not an option

for you, maybe you haven't got any

573

stock at all anywhere, so you're

waiting to get it from your supplier

574

or your manufacturer before you

can send more stock into Amazon.

575

Um.

576

I guess it's just knowing yes,

while you're out of stock, your

577

rankings are going to drop.

578

And yes, you're going to have

to do a bit of work to get there

579

again, as you did originally.

580

So you're going to have to be putting

in some work to get to get to get

581

the sales as you did when you first

listed your product on Amazon.

582

It might take a little bit of time.

583

However, it will be easier than

starting from scratch because you

584

still have got some sales history.

585

Hopefully you've also got some reviews,

so you're not starting from zero.

586

Um, but you are starting from a

slightly lower place than you were.

587

Before you had, you know, before

you sold out of all your stock.

588

So it's just doing all of the

same things you were doing before.

589

Um, you might not, hopefully if you're

listing, you know, you followed all my

590

advice and you've got a really great

product listing, you probably won't have

591

to do any work there, but you might need

to invest in some ads or something else to

592

kind of get people over to your listing.

593

You will get back to

where you were before.

594

Don't worry.

595

That is definitely possible.

596

Um, But know that it might take some time.

597

So that is all of the questions I'm

going to answer in this episode.

598

Thank you so much for sending them.

599

If I haven't answered your question, I

will try and do that in a future episode.

600

Um, if you'd like me to,

I mean, was this useful?

601

Should I do it again?

602

Um, if you have a question, a particular

question about Amazon that you wanted

603

answering and I haven't covered in this

episode, the other option is you can

604

book a power hour with me and then we

can go through anything and everything

605

I can answer all of your questions.

606

So not just the questions of everyone's,

but I can answer just your questions.

607

We can spend an hour and you

can ask me as many questions as

608

you like and I will give you.

609

My answer.

610

Um, so until then, thank

you so much for listening.

611

Thank you so much, particularly to

anyone who's been here for four years.

612

Um, but thank you whether this

is, even if this is the first

613

episode you're ever listening to.

614

Thank you so, so much.

615

I really appreciate it.

616

You being here, I really appreciate

you listening and do know that if

617

you are a new listener, the back

catalog covers so many things.

618

So, um, do take a look and see if

there's a episode or episodes that

619

cover your specific questions or queries

or whatever you're interested in.

620

And if you need any help with figuring

out which is the best episode for you

621

to listen to get in touch, um, I would

love to be able to help you with that.

622

So yeah, thank you again.

623

And here is to another four years.

624

Thank you so much for listening

right to the end of this episode.

625

Do remember that you can get the

full back catalogue and lots of free

626

resources on my website, vickiweinberg.

627

com.

628

Please do remember to rate and review

this episode if you've enjoyed it

629

and also share it with a friend

who you think might find it useful.

630

Thank you again and see you next week.