The Amazon Effect

Foreign.

Speaking of gravitas, we're, we're going to talk about Amazon today. I understand. Right?

We are, we are going to talk about Amazon today.

You know, it's funny, I was talking to a client this morning about Amazon and one of the things I was explaining to this particular client was we tend to think of Amazon as. Oh yeah, that other thing.

Yeah.

And we're starting. We're not. Many of us are not grasping they're a legitimate retail outlet and they can be a big part of our business. And the other thing that I was explaining to him is you need to take it way more seriously because it's part of a long term strategy and doing it wrong can really screw up your brick and mortar future.

Well, I mean, you're 1,000% right. And the other aspect of it too, and the other, I think what I'll say. Thought process that we've dealt with a lot over the years when it pertains to Amazon is those brands and clients that are like, okay, I understand the impact of Amazon, but I don't want to, it's too hard. I don't want to deal with that. And you know what? I think I'm just better off not even essentially addressing that headache. And it's kind of like if we're going to go to Carl Jung, which persists, right. You keep fighting with Amazon, you're gonna lose. You're causing yourself way more pain. If you fight it, don't fight it. Okay.

Pretty good invoking the name of Carl Jung.

You like that?

I do like that.

Welcome.

Wow.

Yeah.

See you. Read a book or something.

I, I almost did. I almost did.

So when we, when we're, when we think about Amazon, we see a lot of CPG companies. They don't, they don't control the environment, they don't control the relationship. They oftentimes give it to a third party or they've got a dozen third party resellers that are all selling their product and bottom, basementing the pricing, hurting their future in brick and mortar. So walk us through it, Justin. So what's a good Amazon strategy look like?

Absolutely. So again, the first thing that I want to make sure that everybody understands is that not only to your point, Mark, is Amazon here to stay, but as you talked about earlier, as it relates to a long term strategy, it has become part of the process as you try to grow into brick and mortar retailer. The buyers, the retailers are paying attention to how effective you are on Amazon. They're paying attention to how many reviews you have, how Good are the reviews, what are people saying about your product? So if you're just saying, you know what, I'm not going to have Amazon as part of my growth strategy, you're literally shooting yourself in the foot. You won't be able to scale because now there's going to be major questions as it relates to your retail buyers going, is this thing actually, do people actually like this experience? What are they doing with it? How much are you selling? And also retailers are now understanding and viewing Amazon as almost like that first retailer audition, right? Do you, what's your price point? How effective is your price point in essentially a retail environment? Especially when you look at the, the different margin aspects of it. Right? When you consider how Amazon is strict when it comes to inventory management. Great. Have you been able to maintain that relationship there? Because if you haven't, then how do I know your supply chain is good enough for me? How are you going to be able to manage me? It's it, they're looking at it like, okay, great, for lack of better term, how did you perform in the minor leagues? Did you do good there? Okay, great, then you checked off that box. If not, now I have questions. And the last thing you ever want to create for a buyer is more questions.

So we have three options. We have vendor central, seller central, and third party. What's the disadvantages and advantages to all of them?

So, so there's, there's, there's really, like you said, the two main ways, right? You can, when you're signing up for Amazon, you can sign up with Amazon and you can sign up as strictly, again, what is called a, a vendor or first party seller, or you can sign up as a third party seller and that seller central. Right now there's also a hybrid model of the two, but there's no reason to get into that. That's more complex than we need to talk about today. So when we're talking about the benefits, okay, so here's, here's, here's the biggest takeaways that I would say for any, anybody who's getting into this space originally is going to be one. If you go the, the first party and use them as a vendor, Amazon is just a vendor. You don't have to worry about it, okay? You send your product to Amazon, they sell it, they will say, hey, I want more product. They'll reorder it, it's done, it's out.

Of the way and they will control the pricing.

They control everything. Because again, you don't have to worry about it. Right? So but you're right, they control everything. They control the pricing, they control the, they control the, for lack of better term product pages, how it's messaged. They, they, they have total control over the environment. If, to your point, if you have a bunch of resellers on there, tough, right there, there's, you're not going to be able to go to Amazon and say, I've got a bunch of resellers selling my product, undercutting me. Doesn't matter. Because Amazon's like, why do I care? You're just a vendor. I'm not going to fight this battle. Nope. So again, on one end it's, hey, I don't have to worry about this. If I don't have a team that's going to be managing all of this stuff and I don't have partners, I can manage it, then I can, I can be on Amazon. I could sell my products to Amazon and Amazon will sell it for me and it's just one less thing I have to worry about. But again, you lose total control over everything and that's the last thing that you want to do. Again, in our opinion. Right. Every brand's at a different stage, but the brands that we talk to, especially startups, that's the last thing that you want to do.

And Amazon can make a decision. First off, Amazon has the ability to do dynamic pricing.

Yes.

So they can vary the price literally by the hour.

Yep.

But they can also make a decision to use you as a loss leader and put you out over the curb at their wholesale.

Oh yeah.

Which means you're now calling on Walmart. And Walmart goes to Amazon and says, well, Amazon selling this thing for $7, how are we going to sell it for 12?

Tough problem to have now in is.

Because it will stop you from winning that brick and mortar. If you're not in brick and mortar already, of course.

Right. There's no way, there's no way to.

So let's talk about the next option.

So when you're talking about going a third party or seller central. Okay. So again, think of it as we talk about first party. Right. They're just a vendor. When you're third party, essentially you're opening up a store. So think of it this way. Right. Think of Amazon as a strip mall. Now you're purchasing property for your storefront. Yep.

So I've got a store in the mall.

Exactly. That's exactly what it is. And so that means that you have the ability to, to merchandise it however you want based on, you know, the square Footage and what you have. So it's the same thing with Amazon. Your product pages have certain templates that you can merchandise it in a certain way. Your brand stores, things like that. But you can, you have total control over that as long as you know it passes through Amazon's, you know, kind of standards and practices beforehand. Right. But you control how you look, you control your pricing, you control how you market it. You have total control over the marketing within the ecosystem there. You have access to all of those things. There's a lot more advanced, what I'll call, when you think of it from a marketing or merchandising standpoint, in the back end you have access to more things and different ways to do it. You can do back in keyword things so you can get more dynamic in that regard. And also again, if you're going in as a seller central and third party seller and you signed up for the brand registry, then you have the ability to go to Amazon and go after people who are knocking off your product, these nasty third party sellers that are undercutting you. You actually can go to Amazon and say, hey, we need to take these guys down. They're not authorized to do this. And you can start getting rid of some of those sellers and actually start cleaning up that ecosystem, but only if you've gone the brand registry route and you're a third party seller.

We have one of our clients right now is having a problem with people are selling counterfeit version of their product.

That's, there's, Amazon is still, it's a nasty place. I mean it's, it's, it's completely changed the e commerce landscape. It's given so many entrepreneurs and, and inventors the ability to really start a business and reach consumers that never could have. But there's also a lot of people out here that can try to make money and get around. It's.

And it's the world's largest fence.

It is.

Oh, between that and ebay.

Oh yeah.

Because we now have a problem of products being stolen at retail and then resold on ebay and Amazon.

Yep, exactly. Exactly.

We have another client who has a product that is so popular to steal and sell on Amazon and ebay that they've had massive theft through pharmacy to, you know, Walgreens, CVS people going in and stealing their item.

Yep, yep. And so, I mean, that's why again, especially as you scale on this end, make sure you're protecting yourself. Make sure that you have a partner that really understands Amazon that that can help navigate these waters. That can help get rid of some of these third party sellers when they pop up. Because they continue to pop up and as you grow, these problems are, continue to grow. Right. So someone who's really navigating, who's really monitoring that landscape because you're going to, you're just losing money, you're going to be advertising. Right. And all of a sudden if they see a version of your product that's cost, you know, 30 or 40% less as a consumer, well, I'll just buy that one. Why am I going to pay full price?

Yeah. And here's another issue that's happening. So we see this a lot in beauty. So you make a face lotion, a hair care product, whatever the case is, and you have a distributor who buys from you wholesale or a retailer, retail account, you know, chain of beauty salons or something. And all of a sudden you notice it's distributors, beauty salon is buying by the caseloads from you.

Right? Yep.

It's because they're putting it out on Amazon and undercutting your price.

Yep, yep.

Because remember, let's say we've got Target that wants to make their 47 points, the distributor, if the distributor makes 10 points, he's got no real cost of business. No, he's not trying to support a retail location. He's just adding some inventory to Amazon and picking up some extra sales.

Exactly.

So he can undercut your pricing. But as soon as he undercuts your pricing, not only are you losing the margin, you've just put your retailers at risk again.

100%. Yeah.

So what are some of the things that we have to do? There's things like brand registry and trademarks and copy protection. What are the things that need to be done to try to protect our Amazon environment?

Absolutely. So, so again, the, the first thing that you're. So there's, there's a few things. So the first thing that you just mentioned there, brand, about brand registry, make sure that you go through the brand registry process now for a lot of products and cause and depending on your category. So Amazon has different rules for every category. Right. So depending on your category, some categories require brand registry to even get a listing up. Like they won't let you go through it. So in those cases at least they've made you do it. Now in order to pass brand registry, you have to make sure that you've done all the other work on the back end to make sure your brand's ready, make sure you've got your trademarks, your copyrights, make sure all that's in ready to go. If not, you won't even get through brand registry. So that's the first thing that you have to do. As soon as you pass that hurdle, then as we talk about, you have the ability to file any complaints within the Amazon ecosystem once they come up. So that's going to be one way to really protect yourself. The other thing, and we've talked to this with other clients too, Mark, and maybe you can expand on it a little bit, is if you start getting into more of the independence, make sure that you have some language in your contract that they can't go and undercut you in Amazon.

Just, I recommend you just block them from Amazon, Right? You just have a, you have a resell agreement that doesn't allow Amazon to be an option for them.

Exactly. Because they're, I mean, they're going to do it. They're going to do it. Right? So make sure that if you get any, anyone, any independents, anything of that nature. And if you've, and if you've already done that and you didn't put that in there, go back and renegotiate those contracts to have something added in. If you can't get them to not be on Amazon, then you have to make sure at least that you're not getting your price undercut or anything like that.

Then you lock them into an msrp.

Exactly.

So I'm on Amazon. I've got my store going. Can I make any money on Amazon?

Well, is it possible?

Does Amazon make money on Amazon?

Yes, yes, it's. Anything is possible, Mark. So I won't be a dream killer, but is it likely? Not for most. Okay, so there are things to understand, right? So we'll even go back one step further because it'll feed into this conversation. So when you sign up as a seller central, right? Because that's what we always recommend. You have two options for fulfillment, right? You can be FBM fulfillment by merchant or FBA fulfillment by Amazon. Okay? So if you choose the fulfillment by merchant option, most likely that will be the cheaper option for you. You know what your shipping costs are. You already know that you're not going to have to be paying any inventory, holding fees, stocking fees to Amazon's warehouses because you've got all that taken care of, Right.

But you also won't be Amazon Prime.

Well, then there's the other side of it. Right now you're not prime eligible anymore, okay? And the latest statistic that I saw showed that 79 of all households in the United States have a Prime membership in there, at least one. Okay, so not being on prime is basically saying, I don't care about Amazon. I'm just telling you right now.

And I gotta tell you as I use Amazon and when I see somebody who's not Prime, I probably look for somebody that is prime because I know I'll have it by eight tonight.

Well, you're right. I mean, the number one reason why consumers are using Amazon is convenience. It's convenience and trust. That's why they go there, right? That's what Bezos did. Bezos created Amazon and everything he's been trying to do is say, how can I simplify people's lives? Where are the moments that I can make everything as easy as possible? And that's what he's continued to do. And that's where you see the consistent updates to the interface. You'll see they added their own qvc essentially. Why? Because great, if I can sit there and engage and someone tells me about the product, it's easier for me to shop. Right? The ability to create and navigate reviews. If you notice now there's an AI system connected to a lot of product pages that will summarize the review. So you don't even have to read all the reviews anymore, right? This is, this is what makes Amazon Amazon. And so if you are not prime eligible and I can't get it in the next couple hours, sometimes in an instance, I'm going to look for a way that I can, period. That's the way I'm going to shop it. Right? Unless you have such a unique product that I am, you've created such desire that I cannot now go without it. Which is, I mean, if you did, kudos, right? But it's not likely so.

But if you did your, your Apple or your Tesla or something ridiculous, not.

Likely so if you're going to be on Amazon, seller central, FBA is the way to go. It's absolutely the way to go to be able to maximize it. Now if that's the route that you go, all of the fees that are attached to it, and actually even now, if you're a startup, Amazon has actually launched an entire supply chain system for you. So if, if you're a startup and you literally don't have the manufacturing and logistics and all the Amazon said, we'll do it for you. We have an entire supply chain offering now for any brands that want to use it. So you don't even have to think about that, which is fantastic. If that's a resource that you need and you're a startup in that space. But getting back to can you make money, here's the reality. If you're on Amazon, you need to understand that the minimum is 40 bucks a month just to be on Amazon. And all of the costs and fees, you're looking at Amazon getting about 40 points on every sale, give or take.

Which is like, that's like having a retailer.

It's like having a retailer, right? It's like, it's about like having a retailer.

But that doesn't count buying Amazon's ad.

Platform though, you're right. No, no, that is simply just to be there and to have Amazon ship your stuff and depending on your category could be even higher because it depends on what your, the inventory fees are going to be like, what the shipping fees might change based on the product, the category that it's in, weight, all those different things. So all those things can shift too. But rule of thumb, take 40 points away right off the top, right? And so then if you tried to advertise as well within Amazon, well, now again, you're going to be lighting cash on fire. Because here's the issue that you're going to run into with Amazon is now you have to battle the Amazon algorithm, which that Amazon algorithm for organic ranking, for lack of better term, is going to be based on how much stuff you're already selling. So if you're a new seller, not much. It's going to be based on the amount of reviews you have and quality reviews you have. Again, if you start off, not much. And it's going to be based off of how you've optimized your listing, essentially which you have some control over that. Right? But the largest, largest elements that it utilizes, you don't have yet. You haven't been there. So that means that you have to buy your way past all of these brands and these products that have been there for a while and have built up, you know, equity in this system. And by the time you get done trying to bypass all of them, most likely you're underwater, easily underwater on that sale. If you try to buy your way through there, it's not going to happen. Just not.

So you're really better off to advertise outside of the Amazon ecosystem and use Amazon as a retail store where people can go to get it.

Correct. Correct. And that's everything that this is constantly what we are telling every one of our clients and advising them to treat Amazon as a retailer. Okay? Understand that Amazon is part of the consumer journey now. Okay. So you can't fight it you can't fight it. Okay. I believe the latest statistics that I saw showed that 67% of consumers say that Amazon is part of their shopping journey in some way.

So how has Amazon changed the customer experience?

So, so we'll, we'll start from a discovery process. Okay. So we'll start there. Because how they've changed the expectation of, of the shopping experience is leaps and bounds. Right. So now every consumer, especially if you're in the e commerce space, if you don't have free shipping, you, you, you're not even in the conversation. I have to have free shipping. Amazon, free shipping. If you don't have free shipping, then I'm going to Amazon. Right. So they expect that fact that also they're going to get free shipping and they're going to get it fast. So the concept of free standard shipping, depending on your category might not even meet the bar that they expect. They expect that their shopping experience is going to be similar to how Amazon has built it. Right. So you'll notice that the top performing e commerce websites now if you go to product pages, it looks like an Amazon listing. They expect the buy button to be there. They expect the gallery to look in a certain way. They expect the reviews to be exactly where they're at. They have changed how consumers add their expectations for how a product and how a product discovery works in that digital space. If you don't meet it, you're failing. That's the first step. Now the other elements that they have really changed is they have become part of the purchase process regardless if it is the purchase destination that they choose.

And they're the number one website now for product reviews.

That's exactly it. I believe it shows that. Yeah. So 67% of adult online shoppers start their shopping journeys with Amazon. So that's really cool.

And there's a phenomenon called showrooming now.

Yep. Oh yeah.

Whereas I go to a retail store, I pick up, feel, see, hold, touch, and I have my phone in front of me and I compare Amazon's price to the price in the store.

Exactly. And that's also why, again, just going over numbers, 87% of consumers say they expect their favorite brands to be on Amazon. So it's an expectation that you're there.

So this, I don't know if you know this or not. Have you been to, you've been shopping for furniture much at any time lately?

It's been a couple years since I shopped for furniture.

Some of the furniture stores are now removing all the model numbers and the brands off the furniture. Because people are coming in, looking at furniture. Take a snapshot of it, go look it up on Amazon.

Wild. Well, and, and that's, that's so funny too, because, I mean, initially Amazon really had a lot of ownership in certain categories. Right. We've seen it a lot in, in supplements, you know, OTC elements, depending on if it's first aid or not. But supplement space, they've essentially owned that for quite a while. And, and so again, they continue with other advances, regular categories. Right. So that's why when you think about clothing, Right. It's not, it's not a category that Amazon's really owned. Well, so what did they do? They started the wardrobe program or try it and if you don't like it, to send it back. It's all good. No worries, Right? This process is easy.

I'm figuring it's only a matter of time before Amazon puts together a photo AI program where you can upload a picture of a couch and it'll tell you who made it.

Oh, absolutely. Well, I mean, even think in the furniture space. Right. Like when they added that element. Because I remember when we were shopping, when we were shopping for a new television. Right. So then they had that on Amazon, had the element that I could take a picture of the room and it could show me if the TV would fit where I wanted it to fit and how it would look. And I'm like, oh, wow, this is so easy. This is great. Oh, it's in. It's free shipping. It's about the price that I want. Boom. It was done. Like I didn't have to. Yeah.

And think of the beauty of that. Now you don't have to go and figure out how to get a TV in your car.

No.

And carry it in the house. Because they're going to bring it right to the doorstep.

Exactly. And if there's anything wrong with it, I know I can just go into the app really quick. Boom, boom, boom. And great, I'll have another one. And I can return it to, you know, local store pretty easily. And everything's good. It's so easy, Right. So when we think about. Again, when you're talking about how Amazon has changed, everything is Amazon has become a destination for the discovery and research process. So that's why those, like one of the things you mentioned. Right. Those reviews are so critical. They're critical. If you're on Amazon and you have less than 4 star review, I'm not buying that product anymore.

And how many reviews you need to.

Have at least 300 once you get past that kind of 300 mark, then most people are like, okay, great, that was about right. I mean, the more you have, the better. Right? But that's, that's the number, that's the sample size for most consumers to say, okay, this is a good enough sample for me. But again, you got to at least be over the four. And in some categories at four and a half. Right. If you're below the half, they're like, oh, I don't think I'm think I'm going to get this right. And also you need to make sure that you are paying attention to your reviews even if you're four and a half. So what are the bad ones saying? Now? You can't publicly answer reviews and try to take care of it. You're not allowed to do that publicly, but you can answer them on the back end. So if somebody had a really bad experience with your product and it's not shipping related, of course, you know, respond to everything. Right. But most consumers understand that unless I'm seeing over and over and over again that my products busted. And that's why this is a horrible brand because I received a broken product once most people understand things happen. Right?

Yeah, I've seen people give products a one star because Amazon didn't ship it on time.

Yeah, exactly.

And it literally say the product was just what I expected and the product worked great, but I got it two days late. So I give it a one star.

Right. It's ridiculous. Right. But if you, if you have somebody who has a bad review about your product and it is related to the product experience in any way, shape or form, you can go in the back end of Amazon and essentially direct message that person to try to take care of it. And what we've mostly found out is about, I would say, I think the statistics are around 40% of those people will go back and change their review after you've taken care of it. Right. So again, you can't publicly have a conversation with them, but you can try to, you know, take care of that. Now you mentioned earlier that Amazon being this, you know, this kind of fenced almost walled garden. Right. That's kind of the issue is that when you're selling your products on Amazon, you have no access to any of the consumer data. You don't have an email address or anything of that nature. So there are controlled ways. Amazon will let you contact a buyer, but they're very controlled. You have no idea really who they are.

You know, this is why we always try to have CPG products have a companion company owned website.

Yes.

We can't get all the people to buy on your website, but we can, we can get them to go there. We can make your offer a little sweeter, throw something in.

Yep.

And when we get them to buy on your website, now we own the customer experience, now we own the database, now we can remarket to them, now we can sell them other products. So it's always a good idea to try to direct to your own website. Now let me ask you about another experience. This is something you and I have witnessed. Often somebody comes along, they build a really successful Amazon business.

Mm.

They're selling housewares, they're selling baking supplies and they're killing it.

Yeah.

And then one or two things happen. Either a company from China steps in, recognizes that they're selling. Because we all know what everybody's selling by the way, folks.

Oh yeah.

So a Chinese company kicks in and says okay, we can make that product for a third of that price or Amazon steps in and decides we're going to do an Amazon brand because we've got all the data and we can direct that customer to our unit.

Oh yeah.

So talk about those, that experience because really a successful. Where I'm going with this is folks, Amazon is part of your mix. But if you make Amazon your only outlet, you have a short term strategy.

Oh, a hundred percent, 100%. Cause you're right, I mean Amazon, it's similar to private label in retail. Right. We see this all the time in retail.

But worse because they can take everything else off the shelf.

Well, but worse because also because Amazon isn't limited by, for lack of a better term, atoms like you've talked a lot about. Right. So they can have as many private label things as they want. They can bully your business out. They can literally decide to say, even if you're third party, they can come around and say, you know what, we need to shut down your, your, your seller central account because you violated these, these, these, these, these things. What are those things? I can't tell you.

We won't tell you.

But you violated it. Yes.

You violated terms of service. Now good luck figuring out what violation you have.

They can do that. They have the power to do that. Absolutely have the power to do that. So that's also why like you talk about one, it is extremely critical for long term growth to make sure that you have a, you actually have a business. You don't just have an item because an item is very easy for Amazon to come and knock off or anyone just to come and knock off.

Especially if there's no IP around it.

Exactly. So that's going to be critical for you, right? Because especially depending on the complexity of your IP will change whether it's worth it for Amazon to even think about going after you or anyone to go after you to try and do something like that. But they can and they will. Because if Amazon can make more money, Amazon is going to make more money. That's just the way it goes. End of story. So make sure that you are protecting yourself in any way, shape or form from anything like that. The other thing that is going to be critical, and we've mentioned this before, and this is also why again, I highly recommend depending on the complexity of your category that you work with, with partners who understand this space, because the category restrictions can be absolutely ridiculous. And you won't ever understand them because they won't tell you, ever. You're just going to get a no. You're just going to simply get a no. Or all of a sudden, no, you can't be FBA because we can't house it in our warehouses because we said so. Right? There's so many complexities depending on your category. Make sure that you have a partner depending on what it is. I mean, mean, if you're selling a spatula, I guess that's not too tough, right? You should be okay, but then you're probably not doing well. But if you are, if, if you're, you know, dealing with ingestibles, anything like that, be careful. Anything that could be considered inflammatory, be careful. Right? The, the other thing, again, these are just warnings for you is going to be outside of, as you talked about, just simply Amazon taking over your business and destroying your, your, your brand whenever they feel like it, because they can. The other things that you can protect yourself with is again, making sure that operationally you have people that know Amazon. So one of the things that we constantly hear about and issues that we hear about from brands is their manufacturer doesn't understand Amazon. So they do all the right things. They sign up for fba, they've got their seller central account, everything's good to go. But they're either logistics partner or their manufacturing partner doesn't actually understand all the practices and the rules and regulations that Amazon requires when they're going to be housing your inventory or product. Because again, Amazon, they're just picking pack, right? So there's advantages and disadvantages to that. But the biggest disadvantage or concern is that you have to understand Amazon's rules because if you send them a bunch of product that wasn't created correctly, they're going to send it right back and they're going to charge you for it.

So the other thing that you need to keep in mind on Amazon, when you're on Amazon, rarely are you a brand, you're an item.

Yeah.

And brands building brands in the consumer package space, building brands is the only way to long term profitability. When you don't build a brand, you're a commodity. And commodities are always based on what's the best price in Amazon. For the most case, you're not a brand, you're an item.

Yep.

And you're a commodity because the chances that you're the only person that makes what you make on Amazon is pretty nil.

Exactly.

There's still 20 other people making whatever it is you make. And then it gets worse, as I said, because if you do start to shine, then someone else who's watching the category will come along and undercut your price. Because Amazon is such a price environment. Because it's hard to build the brand there.

Right. And again, there are no negatives for Amazon. If they have 20 people selling this item or just two people are still buying it. I'm still making the margin that I want to make, so what do I care about? I have no reason to police this.

Right. And that includes 20 people selling your item.

That's what I'm saying. Amazon has no reason to police it. The only policing they're going to do is if a listing has extremely bad reviews that's hurting Amazon's reputation. Then they'll shut you down.

Absolutely. Or if your product starts to have excessive returns.

Exactly. Then they'll shut you down because customer service is their number one priority. So if reviews are bad, you're not answering people, they don't have product in their inventory, so people trying to buy it but can't get it, and all of a sudden Amazon's reputation is hurt. Yeah, they'll get rid of you, but if that's not happening, they don't have to worry about it.

To Jeff Bezos credit, one of the things that makes him good at what he's doing is we think of them as a technology platform and that they're very focused on what's going to be the next big thing in the future. But what Bezos actually has his team's focus on is not what's going to change in the future, it's what is not going to change in the future.

Right.

That's where Amazon puts their focus. What's not going to change is customers want it fast. What's not going to change is they want infinite selection. What's not going to change is they want the best price. So that's where they put their focus. They put their focus on the things that aren't going to change. We'll just use technology and the latest technology to deliver on the things that won't change better.

Absolutely. Right. That's why you look at all the in home innovations they're doing. Right. That is creating a larger ecosystem for Amazon. Sure. But all of them, they're looking to solve a problem. Right. If I can make a shopping list easier by just telling my eco that.

I need this Alexa order more Tide detergent.

Right? Exactly. Done. I don't even think about it. It's already over with. Beautiful. Right? That's. That's what he's doing. That's everything that he's doing. It's brilliant.

Now, I will throw in this, by the way, when you have Alexa sitting in your room, Alexa's listening to everything you say.

Oh, come on. We've all had the TV say Alexa. And our Alexa answers and goes, nope, I don't know what that is. And we're like, ah, that's our reminder. You creep.

Alexa's listening, of course. And there are. There are stories of people saying they were going to buy something and it showed up because Alexa took it as an. As an order.

Oh, yeah.

I will tell you what else holds up, too. Go stand in front of your Alexa and just mention, I'm thinking about getting new golf clubs and watch how long it takes for you to start getting inundated with ads for golf clubs.

Absolutely, Absolutely.

It'll happen almost instantly.

Yes, of course.

Amazon's kind of scary, isn't it, if.

If you have purchased one of those items and it's in your home and you don't accept the fact that, yep, I just let a spy into my house, then either get rid of it or accept that fact. That's what you did. That's what you did.

Absolutely. I mean, it's frightening. Anything else I'm missing here today, Justin?

No, no, I think we covered a lot again. I mean, I would say that. Look, don't approach Amazon as the enemy. It is another retailer. It's a necessary retailer.

They're your frenemy.

They are your frenemy. Like every retailer is a frenemy. Right. This is just your first introduction to that type of relationship. Okay. And just like the larger retail, you know, landscape, if you want to be Successful with it. Again, you're going to market a larger outreach. Don't do it inside, right? No. Brands are continuing to build their, their sales off of just trade marketing and mass retail. It's the same thing here. So don't just buy all of Amazon ads and think that you're going to be able to build this massive business. It won't work.

No, but Amazon will appreciate you.

Amazon will love you. Yeah, no, they'll like you. But again, the key, just like the larger retail landscape, is find the right partners, okay? Find the right people. Whether it's manufacturing and logistics, whether it's marketing and advertising. I don't whether it's even internally to have customer service because that's the other thing. If you're going to, if you're going to sign up for a seller central, then you have to con. You have to manage your inventory. You have to manage the customer service. If people are leaving bad reviews or are emailing you and asking questions like, so you at least have to have a few bodies internally to watch this business and monitor it and manage it and help it grow or it's not going to, it's going to hurt you now because Amazon's such a big part of the consumer journey. So you have to make sure that you have the right team around you to make it successful. Otherwise, unlike before, where you could be walmart.com where it doesn't really hurt you, like no one's really paying attention to it right now other than Walmart, Amazon will. It will hurt you.

Well, that's it for today, folks, on CPG Insiders. As always, if you want to get a hold of Justin myself, you can go to cpg insiders.com or jekyllhyde labs.com you can find us there. Also, if you have a particular CPG marketing issue that you would like to talk to Justin and I about and be a guest on the show. We're actually going to start bringing real live questions with real live marketers on air and we're going to talk to you live and we're just going to say, okay, tell us what you're doing, tell us what your challenge is and we're going to see if we can help you solve it. Yeah, and I think we have a couple of those coming up, Justin.

Yeah, no, I think we're. We got a couple scheduled. So it's going to be, it's going to be fun. We've got it. We've got a couple of entrepreneurs with, with brands and products that are coming on that are have challenges that we are going to help solve.

And I think this is, I really like this idea because I think a lot of people that are listening are going to hear themselves in these various examples.

Absolutely.

That's the same issue I'm having. Okay, then, let's work it out.

Well, that's why we're writing the book, right?

That is why we're writing a book. And it's taking a long time. It's a big book.

Going to be very big book.

It is a big book.

Yeah.

It'll be be ready eventually and then it will be on Amazon.

Woohoo.

All right, folks, that's it for today. We'll see you on the next episode of CPG Insiders. Thanks for listening. If you're looking to greatly increase sales on your CPG product, don't hesitate to contact us at Jekyll and Hyde Advertising and Marketing. By the way, the only advertising agency with a guaranteed result. Just go to jekyllheidagency.com or feel free to give us a call at 800-542-SA.