This week in Nextoria’s Expert Corner, we talk to Florin Vrabie, Co-Founder at Seller Mango.
Seller Mango is a team of skilled e-commerce entrepreneurs with years of experience selling on Amazon. They offer tailored service packages to help you improve your Amazon business. They are specialized in full account management and have managed a broad range of accounts, from small businesses to 8-figure accounts.
Please share a few words about you, what you do, how you started and why you decided to launch Sellermango in the first place?
Seller Mango is the Amazon Account Manager Expert for your Amazon account. Focused on the process and the products, we pride ourselves on being the full-cycle Amazon service provider that any Amazon business needs in order to move to the next step, offering our knowledge and expertise.
The agency was established at the beginning of 2021 by bringing together some of the most experienced Amazon Sellers from the Romanian Community. Even though none of us planned to be a service provider, based on our success on Amazon, we started to receive requests from other sellers. The high majority of them needed help to grow their Amazon brands while the rest were stuck or having issues in other areas of their business. Therefore the idea of an Amazon Service provider Agency came up.
What trends have you observed in the e-commerce industry in the last 2 years?
It is true that the growth cycle has ended at the end of 2021 due to the global economic situation. Since then some sellers have been struggling to keep growing year over year. We have noticed that a high majority of sellers are focusing more on advertising in order to keep the revenue up, even though consumer behaviour has changed. We know for a fact that customers are more conscious while shopping online which can be noticed in the conversion rate of each individual product.
The tough current macro environment is affecting many sellers. How can one minimise the impact of these factors and improve performance?
In order to improve performance, you first need to cancel the noise and stay focused. There are a few key points in Amazon businesses that should be looked at, and actions that should be taken asap.
Mainly we need to keep an eye on the numbers:
- If you do not have a detailed P&L you should create one as soon as possible. The aim here is to understand how much is coming in, how much is going out and what are the areas where the business is losing money.
- Having a product performance tracker is vital. You should analyse impressions, conversion rates and sales for each individual product on a weekly basis.
- With strict inventory management, costs of goods and shipping can be improved.
- Staying on top of advertising, with weekly or bi-weekly optimization, will bring faster and better results.
This approach will make sure you have an overview of your Amazon business and will help you decide what are the right next steps moving forward.
At the brand level, what are the other things a brand owner can do to keep running a profitable business?
Running a profitable business in today’s market is a big challenge. However, if the brand owner is focused on creating value for the customer, they will succeed in the long run. At the end of the day, our customers are the ones dictating how our products should be improved. Reading the seller feedback and product reviews periodically is a good way of taking rational decisions in the product development process. What we have noticed in the last year is that some sellers are emotionally attached to their product even though they might not be profitable anymore. The rational move is to stop selling “what we like” and to focus on the area where the demand is and find out what the customers are looking for. In this industry, it is not about what we think, it is more about what our customers need.
You work with a lot of clients – how are you able to help them reach their objectives?
We are able to achieve our client’s goals by setting things up correctly in the first place. In our onboarding process, we start with a complete audit which includes a financial audit, front and back-end listing audit and product performance audit. In addition to that, we also do market research to help us understand each product’s market share and how much space for growth each has compared to the competition.
What are the top 3 priorities you believe sellers should set in order to grow their business in 2023?
- Focus more on customer experience: Create an unforgettable shopping experience with the front end of your brand and products, and provide outstanding customer support after the product is delivered.
- Expand your sourcing areas: Consider sourcing locally or in other countries that you haven’t considered so far. In the last two years India and Mexico have grown in production and can offer competitive prices compared to China.
- Make rational decisions and stop selling unprofitable products.
Where can people find you?
We are happy to answer all your questions by email: office@sellermango.com, LinkedIn, facebook, or via our website
