Why Are the Rong Reviews in So Many Amazon Products

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If you've shopped on Amazon lately, yous've probably noticed that the platform has become a cesspool of non-name brand goods. And well-nigh of these products are sold by private label sellers, retail/online arbitragers and companies in Prc selling direct on Amazon.

Of these 3 types of sellers, the Chinese accept been the fastest growing segment and they are utterly dominating the platform. In fact, they've pretty much taken over.

Here are a few statistics to draw the Asian invasion this past year…

Over 250,000 Chinese Sellers Joined Amazon Concluding Year
40% of Amazon'due south two Million Sellers Are Based In China
They Take Years Of Exporting Feel
They Have A Pricing Advantage Over Other Sellers

Why is this happening?

For many years, the traditional supply concatenation used to await like this…

A manufacturer in Cathay sells raw goods to a distributor.
A benefactor acts as a single indicate of contact for the manufacturer and sells products to wholesalers
A wholesaler buys these products in majority and sells them to individual retail shops
A retail store sells these goods to the end consumer

Every stride of this supply chain results in a markup of 50-100%.

But thanks to Amazon, the supply concatenation at present looks like this…

In this new version of the supply chain, the Chinese manufacturer completely bypasses the middlemen along the way and sells directly to the end consumer at rock bottom prices that are hard to match.

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Amazon Has Changed Everything
Why The Chinese Take An Advantage
Now That I've Scared Y'all, What Tin can You Do Near It?
The Game Has Changed And Yous Must Adapt
Establishing A Recognizable Brand Is Now A Must
How Practice You lot Plant A Make?
You lot Must Build Defensible Products
You Must Diversify
Focus On Repeat Business
Leverage Influencers In Your Space
If Yous Want To Acquire More…
Click Here To Buy A Virtual Pass To Sellers Acme

Amazon Has Changed Everything

In the past, information technology was much more hard for a Chinese manufacturer to sell in the U.s..

There were language barriers. The Chinese were not familiar with the civilization. There were many obstacles involved with shipping and freight forwarding.

But most chiefly, there was no unmarried big retailer that they could focus their efforts on to move mass quantities of product.

Meanwhile, Amazon's gigantic market changed everything. For one thing, Amazon has been aggressively courtship Chinese sellers since 2015.

For example, when Amazon started operation "Panda" in 2015, the number of Chinese sellers more than than doubled that year resulting in over 20% acquirement growth for Jeff Bezos.

Fast forwards to 2018 and Chinese seller growth has been exponential.

Here's what Bezos and company has been doing to encourage Chinese sellers to sell on Amazon.

They implemented a Chinese version of seller central
They hired Chinese speaking support staff
They started offer end to cease ocean freight solutions direct to Amazon warehouses
They started actively training Chinese manufacturers on how to sell on Amazon

Why The Chinese Have An Reward

At present having a petty extra competition on Amazon is to exist expected but what'southward frustrating is that the Chinese just don't play by the rules.

Afterwards all, when yous are thousands of miles of away, it'southward near incommunicable to forcefulness Chinese sellers to obey the law.

For case, the Chinese repeatedly sell counterfeit merchandise on Amazon and go abroad with it. Amazon doesn't actually care every bit long as they are making a profit and you lot really have to hound Amazon repeatedly before they take whatsoever action.

In improver, in that location are many companies in Communist china that sell both positive and negative reviews.

If y'all've sold on Amazon for whatever length of time, you've probably been the target of a malicious negative review assault.

You've too probably witnessed brand new listings accumulate hundreds of 5 star reviews within a week of launch. Well now y'all know how:)

Often times, these Chinese sellers have hundreds of accounts. They don't care if they get banned considering they always have a backup. And every bit a result, they can violate Amazon's terms of service with impunity.

If ignoring all of the rules wasn't bad enough, both the Chinese and US governments are facilitating these advantages.

First off, the Chinese are exempt from taxes. At present I shouldn't say that they are exempt merely many Chinese only don't pay. After all when you live in China, what's the worst thing that can happen to y'all?

The Chinese also get heavily discounted shipping.

The only reason dropshipping from AliExpress works today is because shipping from China to the United states of america is cheaper than shipping inside the Us thanks to a shipping method chosen ePacket. Every bit a upshot, the Chinese take inherent cost advantages that Usa sellers don't take.

The Chinese also accept access to more resources. Every year, I run an ecommerce event called The Sellers Height where I bring together sellers from all over the world to share ideas and strategies. But the trouble is that I only concur it in one case per twelvemonth.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have events and seminars every week. There are large ecommerce parks congenital exclusively for sellers that are backed by the government.

In addition, the Chinese regime has drastically reduced taxes to encourage global trade.

The Chinese regime fully supports and aids Chinese sellers. Meanwhile, they accept easy access to suppliers and tin act much faster than a private label seller in another country.

For example, my wife and I attend the Canton Fair every other year. But it's a huge ordeal.

We have to fly eighteen hours, find babysitting, book a hotel etc… Meanwhile, someone in China tin can hop on a train, meet with a few vendors and return domicile in time for supper.

This is huge!

At present That I've Scared You, What Tin can You Do Nearly It?

Even though the Chinese are dominating Amazon, not all promise is lost:). In fact, pocket-sized business organisation owners are still thriving.

Every twelvemonth, my buddy Andrew Youderian of Ecommerce Fuel conducts a survey of ecommerce merchants making 6, seven and eight figures in almanac revenue and hither are some highlights from his findings.

Out of over 450 ecommerce businesses surveyed…

Average Revenue Per Store Was ii.four Million
Average YOY Acquirement Growth Was 36.8%
Individual Label Growth was 43.1%
Average Gross Margins Were 39.2%

Equally you can meet, the small business organisation ecommerce market is still alive and kicking and the key stat to focus on to a higher place is that average gross margins did not driblet year over twelvemonth despite the Chinese contest!

In fact concluding yr, gross margins from the shops surveyed were pretty much identical at around 39%.

Why is the small business ecommerce market holding strong?

First off, in that location's a misconception that ecommerce is nearing saturation in the Us. But did y'all know that ecommerce represents only 9% of overall retail sales?

9%!!!! That'due south nothing!!!

Ecommerce is growing at over 10% per year and it'south non fifty-fifty close to being saturated. A rise tide lifts all ships.

Second of all, Amazon is growing at over xxx% per year. There doesn't seem to be any end in sight and there are still many opportunities abound!

If you are discouraged from starting your own ecommerce business, just know that ecommerce still has a long path of growth ahead of it.

The Game Has Changed And Yous Must Adapt

The reason most people fail at ecommerce is because they are using old tactics in a new era. In this day historic period, you only can not throw something upwardly on Amazon and wait it to sell well.

You lot need to either have a strong value proposition or the all-time cost and preferably both.

Here's a quick example to illustrate my bespeak.

Recently I did a search for black bags on Amazon. At present bold you know nothing about handbags, which one of these would you purchase?

When the make names are unknown, almost shoppers will gravitate to the listing with the lowest cost or the most reviews. If your product is not ane or the other, and so yous won't make many sales.

Now allow's say that competing on cost is non an choice for you. How can you lot perchance compete with a Chinese manufacturer who can undercut yous at will?

Establishing A Recognizable Brand Is Now A Must

First off, I want to clarify the definition of having a "brand".

A lot of Amazon sellers out there consider themselves a brand if they pattern some clever packaging and slap their logo onto the box. Well estimate what?

Just because you have a logo does Not mean you have a brand.

After all, a make means absolutely nothing unless information technology's recognizable. Referring to the earlier handbag instance, technically all of those products accept a brand. But the brand is worthless unless information technology carries whatever weight.

If you want to measure out how strong your "brand" is, you can conduct this quick ii infinitesimal practice.

Become into Google Analytics and find out how much direct traffic you are getting for your website.

Here are some statistics for my online store at BumblebeeLinens.com

Direct traffic went up 17.25% in 2017
Direct traffic is upwards over 67% in the past 3 years

Now you'll notice that you lot can't perform this exercise at all unless you have your own website considering Amazon hides every statistic from your view.

And this is of import considering you lot can not establish a strong make on Amazon!

When people shop on Amazon, they think that Amazon is the make owner and non y'all. As a result, if yous are but selling your items on Amazon, you will forever exist a victim to price wars and Chinese competition knocking off your products.

How Practise Y'all Establish A Brand?

Establishing your brand is a long term strategy which involves consistent communication with your customers. It'south a process by which yous must bring visitors dorsum to your website over and over again until your company is ingrained in their minds.

And this can non be done with Amazon.

Here are the primary ways I have increased mindshare for Bumblebee Linens over the years

Content Marketing – We routinely put out new content on our blog and ship it out to prospective customers. In that location is nada selling. The manufactures and posts we publish are meant to brainwash and effectively utilize Gary Vaynerchuk's famous jab jab jab correct hook methodology.
Email Marketing – By sending out regular emails to our list, nosotros bring back customers over and over again until they are ready to purchase. Hither's a mail service I wrote on five Email Autoresponders Your Online Shop Needs To Automate Sales that you should definitely read.
Retargeting – Past pixeling customers who accept visited our site, we prove them ads to tell a story and remind them that we be. Hither'due south a mail I wrote on How To Utilize Facebook Dynamic Retargeting To Make A 12x Render On Your Advert Spend
Push button Notifications – By having customers opt in to push button notifications, we can easily push button offers to the notification bar of smart phones and web browsers. Here's a post I wrote on 3 Ways To Use Dynamic Push Notifications To Increase Sales For Your Online Shop
Facebook Messenger – Right now Facebook Messenger offers up to 8X the open rates and click through rates compared to email. In addition, you tin can use messenger bots to create a custom tailored customer journey. Here'south a postal service I wrote on How To Apply Facebook Messenger To Sell Online – A Guide To Edifice Chatbots For Ecommerce

Lesser line, establishing a recognizable brand involves repeated exposure to your visitor until you go a household name in your niche. And y'all can't practise this unless you own your ain spider web property.

You lot Must Build Defensible Products

Dorsum in the twenty-four hour period, you could throw up anything on Amazon and it would sell. Merely the competition has greatly increased over the years and Chinese sellers are a large part of the blame.

Every single product that you sell online now must take a strong value proposition and a highly optimized production listing. It must stand up out in a body of water of generic junk.

The best way to tell if your product idea has any legs is to type in your product in Amazon and closely examine the results.

Does every product wait the same? Would your listing look any different?
What does your product have that the others practise not?
Tin y'all present your product better than the other products on the front page?

If the answer is no to whatever of the questions higher up, then you many desire to reconsider your product. After all, there are too many "me also" products on Amazon already.

You Must Diversify

Thanks to evil Chinese sellers, your concern is at take a chance if…

You lot only sell a few products
Y'all only sell on Amazon
Yous don't have a customer base of operations
Y'all don't know how to drive your own traffic

I've launched several products in my solar day where I've accumulated multiple one star reviews on Amazon before my products even hit the warehouse!

Evil Chinese sellers were paying for 1 star reviews to finer kill my products earlier launch!

One of my friends received such a large deluge of simulated ane star reviews on one of his bestselling products that it effectively killed that product completely.

Malicious action on Amazon is now par for the grade and if you sell a single product on Amazon, your business is built on a house of cards.

Related: The Dangers Of Selling On Amazon And Horror Stories From Real Amazon Sellers

I tin can't say this plenty but in this day and historic period, you really need to have your ain branded website and yous need to learn how to drive your own traffic.

I know besides many people who have put all of their eggs in the Amazon basket, ordered a huge container of appurtenances merely to accept no way to sell them due to malicious activity.

Here are some posts I've written in the by that will help yous drive your ain traffic.

How To Use Facebook Dynamic Retargeting To Make A 12x Render On Your Advertisement Spend
Facebook Ads Vs Google Adwords – Which Advertizement Platform Is Right For Your Ecommerce Business?
All-time Comparing Shopping Sites – Google Shopping Vs Nextag Vs Bing Vs Shopping.com
How To Run Amazon PPC Sponsored Product Ads – A Step By Step Guide
Bing Search Ads – How I Fabricated An Extra $3253 Final Month With A Few Clicks Of The Mouse
A Facebook Advertizing Strategy For Ecommerce Stores That Really Works

Focus On Repeat Business organization

Nigh people who sell online fail to recognize their well-nigh of import asset….their existing customer base! Well judge what?

When you sell on Amazon, you don't accept access to your past customers and that'south a huge detriment to the growth and longevity of your ecommerce business organisation.

Subsequently all, did yous know that…

61% of SMBs written report that more than than half of their revenue comes from repeat customers
It can cost 5X more than to acquire new customers than to keep current ones
A 5% increase in customer retention can increase a visitor's profitability past 75%
A 2% increase in retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%

When you only sell on Amazon, you have to constantly fight for new sales because you tin can't marketplace to your past customers.

Meanwhile when yous own your ain platform, you tin establish a stiff customer base of operations and build a solid foundation for consistent and repeatable sales.

To reinforce this signal, here are a few interesting statistics from our online store

Only 12% of our customers buy from us more one time but they brand up 36% of our revenues
51% of our revenue comes from our elevation ten% customers
Most of our repeat customers are B2B

The central takeaway from the information above is that every yr, 36% of our revenues are pretty much in the bag because nosotros've built a strong relationship with large repeat B2B customers in our space.

Every bit a outcome, whatever new customers that nosotros add in any given twelvemonth builds upon our existing foundation of sales.

On the flip side when you sell on a platform that you don't own, the platform can cut you lot off at any time and eliminate all of your sales overnight.

You do not have access to your customer base of operations. Yous can not access your e-mail list and in that location is no way to contact your by customers.

In fact, the best mode to gainsay Chinese sellers on Amazon is to plant strong relationships with your all-time customers. After all, people buy again and again from people they trust.

Leverage Influencers In Your Infinite

When it comes to selling online, customers are 77% more than likely to buy a new production when they larn about information technology from someone they know and trust.

And influencers can play a key role in spreading the word about a brand new unknown product.

Here's an influencer campaign that we ran during black friday that resulted in 4 figures worth of sales in but a few days.

When someone with a large following endorses a product or make, that brand volition linger in the minds of their followers.

If You Want To Larn More…

Because Chinese sellers have acquired such a fundamental shift in the marketplace, "How To Beat The Chinese" was ane of the main themes for the Sellers Summit.

In fact, hither's a copy of my keynote speech if you want to check it out.

Click Here To Purchase A Virtual Pass To Sellers Meridian

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