Common Patterns that Hold Sellers Back

I've spent more than a decade in the Amazon space. In that time, I've observed interesting patterns at a scale few are exposed to. The patterns that have emerged create clear issues that sellers need to overcome.

There's plenty of information tailored for sellers, but it's rarely given in context. Sellers struggle to know when and how to apply advice they are given. Even worse, most of the advice is low-level tactics that come and go.

So, in this post, I wanted to break down a few of the common negative patterns I've seen sellers struggle with.

Outsourcing too early

Outsourcing is an amazing form of leverage, but it's often used incorrectly. Yes, you can and should hire people who know things that you don't. That's how you add capacity and skills to your team. Where sellers go wrong is outsourcing things like sourcing when they themselves don't know how.

Think about that for a minute... sourcing is a skill that you often have to train someone how to do. It's not like hiring a PPC Specialist to manage your ads. This is very different.

Instead of outsourcing the critical piece of the business, you should first become an expert at it. Only then are you able to teach someone else how to do it as good as yourself.

Not networking

Sellers tend to be more secretive about their knowledge—at least when I was a seller. This is a massive misstep though. Instead of operating from this scarcity mindset, we should operate from one of abundance. Meaning, we freely share information with a select group of other sellers who are willing to do the same with us.

The younger generation of sellers do this wonderfully—creating "sourcing pods" to live source and share information together via Zoom.

Networking is how you begin growing exponentially as a seller. You learn and move faster than anyone else.

Consider creating your own "pod" of sellers to work together to achieve your goals.

Not making data-driven decisions

Every seller is drowning in data and only some are using it. Data-driven decisions are simple; what does the data say is the truth? Then, make a decision based on that truth.

A lot of what exists in the Amazon space is counter-intuitive. Things that shouldn't work do, and things that should work don't. Because of this, we cannot rely on simple rationale anymore. We have to rely on what the data is telling us.

For example,. do you know what your best categories are based on ROI or Margin? Which categories have the highest return rate? What are your most profitable sources for inventory?

Answering these questions allows you to quickly adapt your strategy to grow faster.

Not using cutting-edge tech

Running an Amazon business is more digital than physical—especially if you use a prep center.

This means that you can use cutting-edge technology and software like AI to perform better. This is why we spent so much time developing Maven (our AI) to give sellers a competitive advantage.

Question everything you do and look for a software solution to solve that problem for you. Shifting to this mindset can help you rapidly outpace your competition.