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Countdown 1 day! Why does our product seem to have no vitality? " What feasible paths do cross-border sellers have to improve product capabilities? Currently, the cross-border e-commerce industry has serious product homogeneity. For Chinese merchants, will micro-innovation products still be the best choice? "
I have been working alone for nearly four years, with daily sales of 4,000-5,000 US dollars. There are a total of 5 people in the company, including me, 3 operations and 2 packaging. The monthly returns just cover all expenses. Occasionally, there is a surplus of 10,000 or 20,000, which will be spent in the next month.
Many operations start-ups are those who have done very well in their original companies or industries, and they start their own businesses for more development opportunities. I am different. I was just average in my original company, and after working in many companies, I always couldn't get along with my leaders and was excluded. It was my problem, so I decided to go it alone out of desperation. This also resulted in me not having much ability in operations and product selection, and the company's development quickly encountered a bottleneck. Our current performance is stuck at 4,000+ a day, occasionally reaching 5,000, but it is difficult to think of more.
The promotion of new products this year was not smooth, and it was basically supported by the old products. I don’t have the experience and ability to create hot products. Most of the products in the store are those with sales of less than 10 orders, all relying on the large number of SKUs. Also because of the lack of ability in product selection, our operation direction unconsciously went in the direction of distributing goods. There is no other way. I don’t have the ability to find and judge the quality of a product before putting it on the shelf. I can only rely on putting it on the shelf to test it with data and money. But the problem this brings is that there are many SKUs and inventories that cannot be sold, and abandonment is another expense. In the category I am in, it is basically impossible to clear the inventory at a low price.
I have been very anxious this year, so anxious that I don't want to take care of the company's affairs. I basically pushed all the operational matters to my two subordinates. I once wanted to find another side job, but unfortunately I don't have the ability or the determination. Working alone for a few years has made me lazy and I can't move forward or backward.
What should I do next to break through the bottleneck? My goal is to achieve daily sales of $8,000 next year.
Which direction should I improve my ability? Product selection, operation or management? Where can I learn? Last month, I met a big boss who was just about to enter the Amazon platform. She was going to spend 100,000 yuan to enroll in a class. I think she is so rich and courageous. It is really profitable to teach people how to do Amazon. As a stingy seller, I am actually not willing to spend too much money to learn how to do Amazon. Maybe this is also the reason why I can't become bigger and stronger, hahahahaha.
Entrepreneurship has a lot to do with passion. I don't have the passion and enthusiasm I had when I started working alone, so I hesitate and think too much about many things, which leads to missing some opportunities. How can I cheer myself up and regain my former enthusiasm? Regularly consume some inspirational quotes?
Are there any experts who have gone through similar experiences and would like to share their thoughts?
"Wonderful Reply"
Anonymous user
Agree with: Shu Xiaoxin, Wangwang Zai Zai, Xixi Saisai, KINYAN, Youfengzhiwoyi more» You need to be able to manage the internal accounts. The performance is stuck at 4000+ a day. It is better to think about how to save money first, and then think about how to increase income.
Savings:
Is there room for improvement in labor efficiency? If the monthly salary is 6k, does the operation generate enough profit? Is performance appraisal necessary?
Is there room for optimization of FBA fees for low-order products? Reduce the packaging to the next level of fee standards and apply for FBA re-testing?
Does the first leg regularly ask different people for prices? Is there a lower price? Can the models with stable demand be delivered by a slower but cheaper method?
Is the procurement cost too high? Have you found a factory to take samples to optimize the cost, production cycle, etc.? (If you don’t know, you can hire someone who specializes in visiting factories)
Is the advertising fee too high? 10% acos costs 15,000 yuan*7 = 100,000 yuan, 20% acos costs 30,000 yuan*7 = 210,000 yuan, a difference of 110,000 yuan in profit
Is there room for prices to spiral upward?
Are long-term storage fees too high? A lot of products are left there for Amazon to deduct money to save money. I can think of so many aspects, namely labor efficiency, price, procurement, packaging, and advertising.
Open source:
My personal opinion may not be correct. According to the 2-8 law, 20% of the models create 80% of the profits, so you will have a few models with sales of 3k+ per day, and the rest sell 1k+. So you need to review the successful models, which are related to the pain points, itching points, and pleasure points of the crowd. Then, you can dig deeper into the areas you are familiar with and find similar products to expand. I think it is okay for other models to have 1-2 orders per day. Isn't it good if the single product does not lose money? It just means that it will occupy invisible expenses such as labor efficiency, advertising fees, and storage fees.
If you can't sell them, you still have to spend money on FBA, storage, and advertising. If you can't even get back the FBA fees, it's better to destroy them.
In addition, are these listings updated regularly? Bundle, combine variants, re-shoot pictures and re-promote? Everyone wants to be a boutique. If you can't choose good products and can't promote them, you can only promote them! The easier way is to find some mid-range models and promote the ones that sell better. If it is a slightly differentiated product, it is actually very simple for an old store to promote it. It may still be a problem of operational capabilities.
To be honest, the 100,000 yuan for the course may not know as much as you do. You can spend a few hundred yuan to attend the Zhiwu conference to see what the general level is like, and then go to other people's courses, such as *Polo, and borrow them from people who have paid for them. If it doesn't work, you can use your 100,000 yuan to add WeChat one by one and pay to ask the top masters on Zhiwu. Isn't that great?
99% of the courses + agency operations are traps. Don't deny yourself out of fear. It's easy to go astray. You have surpassed 90% of ordinary Amazon people and have become profitable on your own. Why do you still have to work so hard? If you mess around here and there, you may lose all your profit points and still have to bear a lot of expenses.
It is normal to be so anxious that you don't want to take care of the company's affairs. Every entrepreneur will have this struggle. Adjust your mindset, seek change when necessary, and cut some models when necessary. Be tough. Because the factory environment is very bad, there are many old hands, and there are all kinds of things. You have been doing this for so long, and the money is still in the goods. You need to be anxious, but if something really goes wrong, it will be helpful to talk to a psychologist. When my sister started her business, she had severe anxiety and claustrophobia. Later, she made an appointment with a specialist for regular treatment, and now she is basically fine. I hope everything goes well for you. Anonymous user • Jiaxing • 5 days ago Very professional, thank you for your advice. I will write it down one by one and learn and implement it. I will not spend 100,000 yuan to sign up for a course, I can't bear it. I usually study on Zhiwu and search on demand on the Internet. I bought Apollo's course on Xianyu, which is a bit too complicated for me, and his theory is best used with his software. I was reluctant to buy it, so I didn't insist on using it. Psychologists are quite expensive. When I was most anxious, I went to a tertiary psychiatric department to make an appointment. The doctor asked me to spend 800 yuan to do a test question. I was too stingy and ran away.
Anonymous user • Guangzhou • 5 days ago Secondly, based on the information you answered before, from the perspective of cost optimization, let's calculate it. The following units are in US dollars.
150,000 monthly sales, 400 orders a day, unit price around 10
fba 3.25, commission 15-20%, average 1.5
The product cost is 15% which is 1.5, and the advertising fee is 15% which is 1.5
So for every item sold, the payment is $2.25, which is $2.75*400*30=27,000, which is about 18% gross profit margin, not counting the first leg, warehousing configuration fee, storage fee, overdue inventory fee, return management fee, monthly service fee, labor, water, electricity and shop rent... All the above strange fees are roughly evenly distributed at 5%, and the real net profit margin is 13%
The following units are in RMB:
Net profit is 27000*7=189,000 yuan, and the monthly purchase cost is 400*1.5*30=126,000 yuan
Employees 20,000 yuan, shop rent 20,000 yuan, and finally 23,000 yuan left. This should be reasonable. It does not include the capital turnover cycle, because the payment has an account period.
Let's look at the parts that cannot be changed: FBA (minimum), commission, and various strange expenses. The parts that can be optimized: labor, water, electricity, shop rent, headquarter, product cost, ACOS, product price. From a financial perspective, just optimize these!
The purchase cost is 126,000 yuan. If it can be optimized by 10%, there will be an extra 12,600 yuan.
Advertisement orders are 4 and organic orders are 6, acos is 15%, 15w*0.4*7*0.15=63w, if 10% is taken, it is 42w, and 21w is saved, so there is 33.6w more per month, 400k per year, don't underestimate cost optimization! !
Princess Jiabajin • Guangzhou • 5 days ago That's amazing. My ability is average, and my advertising is average. I also want to start my own business next year, but someone has invested money in me. I want to enter the fashion jewelry category, but I'm a little nervous. If I go to work, I'm stuck here and there, and the art designer can't even provide pictures. It's really a sigh.
Anonymous user • Guangzhou • 5 days ago @加把劲公主: Clothing, shoes and bags are all hot categories, and the return rate is high, so it depends on the product selection and development capabilities. For small accessories, Yiwu products have a huge price advantage (but the quality is really average), so you have to pay attention to details and the listing quality must be high. There is a husband-and-wife team of a competitor who takes the boutique route. They can sell one model for 2-3 years and make a lot of profit. If that doesn't work, they can just do a fine store, but there will be many variants, so the inventory and capital pressure will be relatively large.
But then again, which category can make money? They are all stock markets, and they are in the stage of bayonet fighting. At least Amazon is not as competitive as in China, so there is still room for development.
gravity -Our greatest ability is not that we have never fallen, but that we stand up every time we fall. Agree with: Xixi Saisai, Rookie Peter, Dorami Haha, Steamed Duck that Can't Be Rolled, Mr. Mo0212 More » In which direction should I improve my abilities? Product selection, operation or management?
—First of all, to answer this question, with daily sales of 4-5K, based on 4,500 dollars, the monthly sales are nearly one million RMB. You should learn finance first and get more profit from it.
The poster clearly expressed the real situation and dilemma of most cross-border partners who are working alone. Even some companies with operation teams as units have this situation.
Performance bottleneck, old products cannot break through, profits are limited, or there are orders, but the profits are not significant, and new products are put on the shelves and there are all kinds of problems, so there is not much fresh blood to supplement profits.
In fact, we often encounter such cases, whether it is passion, the solidification of underlying thinking patterns, or a safe way of doing business in a downturn in the industry, excessive concerns about future profit models, etc. If we want to change, the most important thing is to solve the problem of people, the soul figure.
The current performance is neither too much nor too little. It can support the team and must be worthy of recognition. It has created several jobs for the society and we must continue to work hard.
The road must be continued, and performance must be further cultivated. The author obviously wants to keep moving forward, but has encountered some obstacles in Amazon's professional track. I have been in the industry for many years, and I have always believed that the road to entrepreneurship is like walking on thin ice.
You can refer to the practical operation: split the business segments, different stores and different product lines. As mentioned at the beginning, import the financial data for analysis, review the existing business, strengthen the selection of products that should be improved, and decisively abandon the products that should be eliminated. For future performance points, focus on the existing profitable product lines, and strive to take up more market share in a certain segment. Whether you are a node share or a keyword share, you have to have expectations for the data.
$8,000 a day is just a small goal. You should set your goal at $10,000 and adjust it every three months to feel the entrepreneurial satisfaction that data growth brings you. I believe you will give up Banana Green and invest in new enthusiasm.
Haibaichuan123 Support from: Steamed Duck, SOOHAA, Cool Jason, Wuhan Handsome, Aezakmi Let me share my thoughts.
First of all, from a macro perspective, with the development of temu tiktok Walmart, the external pressure faced by Walmart is increasing; at the same time, with the increase in Chinese sellers, the internal competitive pressure is also increasing; another thing is that the global economy is in a downturn, and the growth of US e-commerce is getting slower and slower.
In summary, cross-border e-commerce competition is fierce, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for small sellers. Specifically, in the past year, many categories have begun to reduce prices, and the average price of each category has fallen. The source is that factory sellers have entered the market and developed cheaper and more cost-effective low-priced products; then Amazon also encourages the development of such new products. The previous high-advertising, high-promotion, high-price, and high-to-low strategy has gradually become ineffective, and low prices, low advertising, and efficient pictures and pages are more likely to win the favor of buyers and Amazon; promotion is fast and investment is low, this is the category trend brought by large sellers and factory sellers.
After talking about the current situation, let me talk about my own situation. I run a small company with a factory as my back. The store had problems in the first half of the year. This year, I also re-promoted many new product links, so this is all personal experience. In addition, I also opened a store privately in the first half of this year and chose a product to sell. Currently, there are 300 orders per month, with a monthly sales of 5,000 US dollars and a profit of less than 10,000 RMB per month. It can be regarded as a sideline supplement. At present, I am very satisfied with the time invested and the output.
I have also been thinking about the possibility of working on my own if I can no longer continue working in the company.
Your experience and questions gave me a good inspiration, that is, what to do when the company's product output is insufficient and encounters bottlenecks.
I think we must have pillar products and cannot go the route of general goods. Once general goods are sold, the personnel costs, time costs for making pictures and shipping, etc. will be directly pulled up and out of control. From the perspective of cost-effectiveness, find pillar products, and then do in-depth cultivation, spread out from the pillar products to create multiple links, and even for the same product, change the main picture and create a new link to start selling. Save your time and energy to the greatest extent.
Then here are some suggestions for you. You don’t have to understand the specific operations or product selection, but you must understand the logic of e-commerce operations and sales, so that you can control the progress of your subordinates. Read more posts and links from others, and put out all kinds of data to think for yourself. To put it bluntly, operations are nothing more than exposure-clicks-conversion-after-sales; product selection is nothing more than supply and demand; spend more time thinking carefully, you have no shortage of time and money to try and make mistakes, and you will definitely gain something.
Only when you understand this, can you try to take the next step, which is to find a mature operator. This will definitely bring obvious improvement, but it depends on what you can do to get a good operator to work with you. But you have to be careful about being fooled by an operator who pretends to know something, so the premise is that you have to understand it yourself.
Cross-border Little Dragon 1024 Let me tell you a few points. Analyze your own strengths and weaknesses to find a suitable position for yourself, boutique, fine shop or follow-up sales and other methods
After determining the positioning, we will take stock of our own resources and strategies, and make comprehensive judgments based on last year's sales and advertising data, the strength of competitors, and the intensity of competition in this product and category. We will then add or reduce categories, and then concentrate overall resources to cope with this fiercely competitive market.
Adjust your mindset, communicate more, and communicate more with your team. This is extremely important in any business circle. Many times, the problems you encounter have also been encountered by others, and a few words from others can solve many of your problems.
Anonymous user Agree with: Shu Xiaoxin, Left Light, Wandering Heart, WNYB, 18933017468 More » Similar years of working alone, similar sales, but surprisingly different profits... I am currently working alone + a warehouse for packaging... The warehouse is very easy... I only work about two or three days a week...
My annual net profit is about 1.5 million to 1.8 million... The main difference is in the company strategy... We are engaged in high-quality products and vertical categories... But we have always worked alone and have not had the feeling of being a boss... I think for small companies, the boss is likely to select products... and the product selection process is particularly critical... I suggest that bloggers only keep 1-2 operators... and only one warehouse... Then choose 1-2 subcategories from the existing products to develop vertical categories... Make the products more refined and increase the quantity of single products... This road is very long... But believe that you are always going in the relatively right direction... You will always succeed... The products developed next year may really explode in profit the year after... Come on, everyone! Anonymous user Thank you for your advice
It should be the difference in personal ability that makes such a difference. You are the kind of person described in my question, who was excellent in the original job and went out on your own to seek more opportunities and income, so your development path is very clear and the ceiling is also very high.
I don’t dare to make high-quality products, nor do I have the ability to make high-quality products. When I first entered the industry, I learned about distribution and fine distribution (the understanding of distribution and fine distribution in operations varies greatly. One who has always been doing high-quality products thinks that 3-5 models a month are considered distribution. Another who has always been doing high-quality products thinks that 10-20 models a month are considered high-quality products. I understand distribution as more than 10 models a day, fine distribution as 10-30 models a month, and high-quality products as 1-10 models a month.), the investment and risks of high-quality products are beyond my control. So even if I envy the profits of the big guys, I can only envy them.
I was the first one to lead two operations, but I was reluctant to leave. I was the third operator. I worked hard to select products, so I had one less operator. The product value was relatively low, and the packaging quality inspection was quite troublesome. It was a bit too much for one person to handle, and there was no way to reduce it.
Very low-key • Jinhua • 5 days ago @Anonymous user: The difference between a general product and a premium product is not based on the number of new products released! The more energy and resources you put into a single product, the more premium it is, not just the number.
God Doudou 233 There are two people in our company, one is responsible for product selection and the other is for operation. We package together. Currently, the daily sales are more than 3,000, which has been average for more than two years. Every month, we do accounting analysis and inventory, and check the profitability and asset situation. In fact, we do not blindly pursue sales. Every month, we screen and discard products with low profit margins and high return rates. I am not sure how your accounting is every month. According to us, with a gross profit margin of more than 3,000 a day and 15%, we can also make 100,000 yuan a month. The gross profit should be able to cover the salary, rent, water and electricity of employees and expand one or two new products. Then, I will not be too anxious when the assets slowly roll up.
Absolutely impossible Agree from: 鼠小新、123huang、device、William427、123卷儿123 More» Is 5,000 in sales enough for 3 operations? Don't think about 8,000 dollars next year. Your current goal is not sales but profit, cash. Instead, you should cut off the staff and unprofitable links. Just keep you and a packager. When you get more money, passion will come naturally.
As for the 100,000 yuan class, it would be fine if you were a big guy who had worked for Amazon for many years and came to cut the leeks, but what is a "big guy who is about to enter Amazon"? A loan big guy? Anonymous user • Jiaxing • 6 days ago Yes, profit is the most important. A word awakened me from my dream. My lack of passion now has a lot to do with not getting paid every month and having to draw a pie for myself. A big man who started out as a traditional foreign trade player is trying Amazon. I also think 100,000 is a bit outrageous, but since the training dares to quote this price, it means someone is willing to pay for it. Training is really profitable.
Hijack a cloud to see you • Ningbo • 5 days ago @Anonymous user: What does training cost? It costs nothing. On the contrary, if one or two people who think like you get fooled, he will make money.
My brother In fact, your financial strength is not strong enough, and the profitability of the products and tracks you choose is average, that is, the gross profit level is low, or there is serious homogeneity. I had similar experiences before, when I just started my business. So you still have to use leverage, otherwise, for such a startup, it may be better to find a big platform to work. We seem to be our own bosses, feel free and have decision-making power, but it's just seeming. Choice is greater than hard work in many cases. I hope these thoughts will be helpful to you. Win-win cooperation, find a better platform and people to cooperate with.
Li mosquito coil - I want to buy osmanthus flowers and carry them with wine, but it doesn't look like the young boy's travel Approved by: Gu An Deb, Beef Noodles with Tomato Sauce 1.5000 USD, 3 operators + 2 packagers. The efficiency ratio is too low. Consider cutting one operator and one packager first.
2. Have you achieved a low average order value? Do you have a large order volume? Normally, a packager can easily handle 300-400 orders a day. 3. Change the product structure, don’t spread the goods, and don’t have a low average order value. I personally think that small sellers can only have a glimmer of hope in the future by doing high-quality products and vertical categories. Anonymous user • Jiaxing • 6 days ago The average order value is low, there are many SKUs, and the products are relatively complicated, so one person in the warehouse cannot handle it all.
I was the one who taught these two operations people from scratch. It was so hard to teach them and I was reluctant to let them go. I will work hard on product selection myself, which will also reduce one operation staff.
I don’t dare to make high-quality products. I think that is something that only capable or wealthy people can do.
With the Evening Breeze • Dongguan • 6 days ago @Anonymous user: We have the same number of SKUs, but we only pack 2 units for a daily sales of 10,000 USD
Anonymous User • Zhejiang • 6 days ago @与晚风: We buy products on 1688. After we buy them, we need to do quality inspection and change the packaging, which takes a lot of time. The quality of products on 1688 is not good, and the defective rate is high. For example, if we want to send 100 products, we have to buy 150 to unpack and inspect them, and then repack the 50 products of poor quality in their packaging and return them.
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