Case Study – How I went from zero to 7,000US$ in 10 days in one of the most competitive Amazon niches

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This is a case study I did publicly on a product that I sourced in China and launched on Amazon a while ago. I am currently working on a new case study for 2021 so if you are interested in following that case study please subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of my page to get updates when I get started. 

Onto this case study. I did a 2 hour webinar on this case study on Youtube, you can watch it here to get an in-depth step by step guide. 

Before I get into the results I wanted to share a few photos with you of the exhibitions here in Hong Kong last week and meeting up with a lot of fellow Amazon sellers and ImportDojo members. Just briefly and you’ll read more of it towards the end of this post, around the 5 month mark I became the #1 bestseller in Amazon’s “Coffee Press” for 2-3 days. To reach that was honestly more I could have hoped for. While I was the bestseller I sold about 90 pieces per day. What a result   

I also had the opportunity to speak at the 3-day Global Sources Sourcing Summit event as the opening speaker where I met a lot of fellow Amazon sellers. The atmosphere and networking there was simply amazing.:

Disclaimer: Some of the products may contain an affiliate link and we may make a commission if you click on it at no additional costs to you.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO ONTO THE CASE STUDY

Ok so first things first. I would have never thought that this product is so competitive. 

When I looked into it in November 2015 the competition seemed big but manageable and with a superior product I thought it wouldn’t be so difficult. 

Well I can tell you it was quite difficult to get the product on the map. Having said that I am quite happy with my initial launch results. 

I have now sold over 200 units and a sales turnover of nearly 7000$ within the first week of the launch

And the best thing, I am now number 7 on the best seller list and on page 1 for my main keyword. 

Here’s how I did it: 

When I started this project there were about 30 something sellers with similar items and I already knew it will be quite competitive but I was in for some real tough competition. 

I am not going to lie, this was a though one. 

When I launched there were about 120+ sellers of similar items and my main key word was VERY VERY competitive (over 3 Million searches per month) and I would need a huge launch to kick it off. 

After my initial boost with my email list, bloggers and Facebook group I realised I needed help to push it. 

HERE ARE SOME OF THE NUMBERS: 

Start of the project: 17th of November 2015 (Chinese New Year added nearly two months to my production) 

End of the project (launch): 12th of April

Length of the project: ~5 months. It can be done in less time (2-3months) especially if you don’t forget to place orders before the Chinese New Year  

Total order value of product: 4500$ (1000 pieces at 4.5$) 

Total cost of inspection, photography, layout and packaging: 949$

Total cost of shipping: 2650$ (~900KG by Air – thats 2.94$ / per kilogram) 

Total cost: 8099$

I figure if you are on a smaller budget you can do 500 pieces, cheaper photos and white box instead of color box (ike mine) and you can halve the costs of my 8000$. 

BUT to really maximise your profits I suggest a starting budget of minimum 5000$ per item. It is possible with less but a lot harder. 

MILESTONES, STRATEGIES, GIVEAWAYS AND RESULTS AFTER 10 DAYS OF LAUNCHING IN ORDER OF ACTION TAKEN:

Friends and Family: 95% of coupons used

11 sales at 98% off. Helped definitely to put me on the map and ranks of Amazon. 

Facebook groups: 

3 sales at 49% off. Not much but can’t complain either. None of my Facebook groups are Coffee target groups. 

Blogger list: 

About 23 sales (with 20% off) resulting in a profit of 180$. Deducting the advertisement fee for both bloggers @50$ each leaves me with a profit of 80$. Not bad BUT the sales of the product and climbing the ranks trough these sales is MUCH MUCH more important to me at this stage. PLUS my product is embedded on the Blogger’s pages permanently so I am expecting more sales and traffic to come to my listing “for free” from here on. 

My email list: 

8 sales. Not great but my email list are mostly NON Amazon buyers and retail customers mostly. But either way, I just needed to send out 1 email that took me 10 minutes to write and I got 8 sales from that.

Twitter:

0 sales (980 followers) I guess you really need to have targeted followers. 

Instagram: 

1 sales (150 followers) I guess you really need to have targeted followers here as well. Most of my Instagram followers are friends or family and I only have personal photos on there usually. Create a new account that targets your product category. 

My product got buried quite quickly in the “new products” section but you can boost your item to the top every 3 days or so. So far everyone who took the coupon has bought AND left a review. So thats a 100% conversion on reviews. 

I used JumpSend and it also boosted my ranking but difficult to say by how much. I guess you can leave your product on there forever and boost it once in a while to keep your BSR at a good level. Anyway, its free so I recommend you to try it definitely.  

JumpSend result took me by surprise. 98% conversion of coupons and the boost put me on page 1 within 7 days and my BSR from #16,000 to #1320 in Kitchen and Dining. Yes thats right, my product climbed to rank #1320 within a week in one of the biggest categories on Amazon and hovered there for a few days. I’ve never had any climb that fast on previous launches and THAT immensely helped on getting organic sales. 

SOME MORE NUMBERS: 

Reviews so far: 

38 – 5*-reviews 

1 – 4* review (customer received a broken handle but I immediately sent him a replacement without blaming transport or anything so he left me a “stellar 4* review) 

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Ranking:

Top so far: 1320 in Kitchen and Dining

Currently: 5400 in Kitchen and Dining

Category: 

Top so far: #7 in french presses

Currently: #25 in french presses

Sales: 

Total Sales so far: 6548$

Toal Units so far: 219 pieces

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AND Currently averaging 8-12 ALL ORGANIC sales per day 

Next steps:

Activating PPC:  Start with a automatic campaign and check the report after one week. Use the most searched and effective keywords in your automatic campaign and set up a manual campaign with these keywords.  

Conclusion:

Remember, before you get to this stage you need a superior product and the prerequisite is that you have a great supplier, excellent quality, the right strategy and take your time with the process. Key is to take action but don’t forget important steps when dealing with the supplier such as exclusivity agreements, purchase order contracts, background check and lots more.  

Check out my webinar where I walk you trough my process on how to get a superior and safe product from China. 

I am quite happy with the results of the case study and I could have climbed trough various strategies slowly but above services definitely helped getting the product on the map fast and hence resulting in great organic sales after week 1.  

Matter of fact at this velocity of sales I need to re-order within the next 2-3 weeks. 

Now imagine your product is in a less competitive niche what’s actually possible on Amazon FBA. Take action now  

If you are interested in the entire case study looking over my shoulders with each step I took in every detail feel free to check out my course. I have detailed and documented every little thing from the beginning to the end in over 50 video tutorials. 

From the research phase to finding a supplier, evaluating them, placing the order, booking inspections, margin calculations, exclusivity agreements (so you guys don’t try to copy my product  ) and arranging straight to Amazon shipments until the launch of my product. I am taking out all the fear and worry in the process and show you how it works. 

The point I want to get you to and with this case study is that you can see a complete product launch that starts from finding the right product, the right supplier and shipping it to Amazon, promoting and selling it.

Best thing about this, I’m using my own money and will try a lot of different things so you can see what works and what doesn’t and learn all this without running your own trial and error experiments.

If you don’t sell yet simply watch and see and all your worries and anxiety of placing your first order will be gone because you already know everything step by step.

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Apply these methods to your own product idea and become a professional Amazon seller and importer. 

Whats more? This case study is on top of the already existing 50+ video tutorials, templates, private Facebook community and 2 hours of one on one coaching with me personally. 

Check it out here: https://importdojo.com/importdojo-masterclass/

7 WEEKS CASE STUDY UPDATE – I AM OUT OF STOCK

I have a problem. Well its more of a luxury problem. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining 

I have sold 1008 pieces of my French Coffee Press and am out of stock after only 7 weeks.

How did this happen? 

If you re-call above,  I was doing about 8-12 pieces organically after my initial launch.

After about 5 weeks I was doing around 20-25 pieces a day: 

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And in the last 2 weeks I was doing between 35 to nearly 50 pieces a day!!!

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I contribute this to the following factors:

  • My listing and photos are better than the competition
  • My product is superior to the competition
  • Great copywriting does matter
  • 79 reviews within 5 weeks  
  • Launch tactic and tools used 

So now I’ve been out of stock for nearly a week already and my ranking has obviously dropped significantly. The good news is I have 1 shipment (208 pieces) that will be arriving this Friday. Unfortunately it is only 208 pieces that the supplier had in stock for me. 

As soon as I saw that I am heading towards 30 pieces a day I ordered another 2500 pieces that are being produced right now but I have to send it in via Sea otherwise it gets too expensive. Also I will not do any give-aways or PPC until my 2500 pieces nearly arrive, otherwise I am running out of stock again. Luxury problems like I said. 

Alright, numbers:

Start of the project: 17th of November 2015 (Chinese New Year added nearly two months to my production) 

End of the project (launch): 12th of April

Length of the project: ~5 months. It can be done in less time (2-3months) especially if you don’t forget to place orders before the Chinese New Year  

Total order value of product: 4500$ (1000 pieces at 4.5$) 

Total cost of inspection, photography, layout and packaging: 949$

Total cost of shipping: 2650$ (~900KG by Air – thats 2.94$ / per kilogram) 

Total cost: 8099$

Update numbers after 7 weeks:

Units sold: 1008 pieces

Returns, units broken: 12 pieces (1% return quote) 

Profit made after PPC, give aways & others: ~8400$ 

My estimate profit when I started was around 12,000$. So I am short about 4,000$ but I am not not complaining. 

I’ve taken these 8400$ and re-invested them in my 2nd (208 pieces) & 3rd (2500 pieces) re-order. 

Meaning that the following orders are pure profit because I covered my initial investment (8099$) and nearly covered my 2 & 3rd re-order. 

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CONCLUSION OF THIS CASE STUDY (6 MONTHS UPDATE)

As you can see in the picture above around the 5 month mark I became the #1 bestseller in Amazon’s “Coffee Press” for 2-3 days. To reach that was honestly more I could have hoped for. While I was the bestseller I sold about 90 pieces per day. What a result.        

It’s been 6 months since I started this project and I thought its time to give you a recap of what has happened, what went well what didn’t and where I can improve.      

The fact that the Chinese New Year (CNY) was in between and that I have not worked full time on this project has delayed my project. 

If I would have focused on this project from the start and work more than the 1 hour per day I could have shipped out before CNY and would have had a total of 3 months from the start until launch of the product. Since I am aware of most things that need to be done for this project it is easy for me but if you are a beginner I estimate that from finding a product until shipment/launch you can do this in 4 months.

Now onto the things that went well and some that didn’t work well.

One thing that caused a long delay was my mistake in paying the wrong beneficiary for the sample payment. That delayed my project for nearly 2 weeks.

So make sure that you check all banking details when you make a payment. I also lacked the motivation in the beginning because I had so many other things and other products going on. That delayed my product for 2 months. Why? Because I won’t ship out before CNY. So make sure of the timelines when you want to launch a new product and be aware of Chinese holidays.  But I will explain in a little bit why this actually doesn’t bother me so much. Another thing that didn’t go so well was the misunderstanding on the extra filters that I wanted. 

Apparently I didn’t make myself very clear to the supplier on this point. Also the fact that I wasn’t able to get a price reduction bothers me a little bit but I can’t complain too much because every other modification that I wanted was accepted from the supplier even though I have a small order quantity.

One thing that bothers me a bit are the high shipment costs of Air shipment. Reason being that the quantity is low and forwarders charge high premiums for small shipments. With my re-orders I will order a larger quantity and go by SEA and that should bring shipping down to 20% at least. Which will improve my margin in the end.  Also the fact that the supplier messed up on the product dimensions and weights and that I was paying 270$ more than planned is not ideal but it is what it is.

Another thing that I didn’t plan well for was the re-order. I am now out of stock for another week and I have to get my ranking going again. Once that ranking is up again I should receive my large re-order by Sea. I should have projected my sales velocity at an earlier stage and simple send in a large re-order right away after seeing first results.

What went well was definitely the communication with the supplier and the quality of his work and attitude towards working with my small quantity. I attribute that for meeting the supplier in person at the canton fair and my clear instructions when I first made contact with him. Subsequently I also promised him more business in the future ,which definitely makes him more eager to work with me. The initial sourcing results were also pretty good, all suppliers had good prices and decent MOQs. But the fact that my actual supplier had exactly what I needed and the fact that I met him in person made my decision easy.  

I am also happy with the artwork and photos. I admit I paid a premium price for the packaging and photos but I want quality work. So often I read from people in the FB groups that they hire someone on Fiver or Freelancer.com and the results are either bad or mediocre. Or the seller of the service disappears completely or doesn’t keep deadlines which can be crucial for your launch. Think about it, a great listing and photos will set up your product for the long term even if the initial investment is bigger. I could also book a cheaper inspection now but that’s not the way I do it. I want this product to be of high quality and I don’t want unhappy customers or give my competitors the chance to give me a bad review.

I may go with a cheaper inspection for re-orders which are less complicated. There are services I work with that charge 100$.

The fact that my shipment was delayed for more than 2 months because of the CNY  actually doesn’t bother me at all because this course should be for beginners on importing from China who are launching their first product. So you actually should take your time for all the different steps. Don’t hurry the process just to ship as fast as possible. I had two months to prepare my launch, perfect my listing and think about different strategies.  Also I think many of you are just starting out or doing this on the side. The one thing I suggest you is that you take you time, do the research and know the process when dealing with factories in China. Don’t just quit your job because you heard of FBA and do this full time. Have a capital on the side, maybe do this besides your full time job and once you have a couple of SKU’s running you can think about quitting your job. If you can’t invest 5-6000$ for your first product try ordering a smaller MOQ.

However I personally think 5000$ is the minimum budget one should have and I am not saying it can’t be done with a budget of 3000$ but you will likely be in a much more competitive field when choosing a product because a lot of people look for the same products because of their limited budget. Save that money you would spend on a weekend out with friends and put it into your budget. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I have spent quite a lot of money on photography, inspection and logistics. It can be done for less, that is for sure. I could get an inspection for 100$ instead of 309$. I could get photos for 100$ instead of 650$. And maybe that would work also ok and in time I can improve photos and other things. But I don’t see it as that. I see the initial investment important because it will set up my listing for good. Now obviously a lot of people will see this case study and might copy me so I will have a lot of competition, but that is not my point.

I normally wouldn’t disclose my product and therefore (if I don’t disclose my product) the steps that I have taken will make sure I have a high quality product, great photos and a money maker for the coming years. If I were to cut costs everywhere maybe because of budget reasons I would have to cut into quality of the product, leave out the inspection, poor product photography and more.

That puts my Amazon account, Best Seller Ranking and everything else in danger. I want to have a reputation of a quality product and satisfied customers, because in the long run that is what you need to grow your business. If I were to try this as a one time thing I might make some money quickly when cutting costs and then what? I have to start all over again with a new product because someone copied me and made a better product.

See the initial investments as a road to success and don’t think about the number too much. I am not saying you should pour money into suppliers and inspection companies or photography, these have to be reasonable and negotiated but don’t be too stingy with investments either.

I think the saying “want cheap? Then you get cheap!” plays a big role when buying in China and selling on Amazon. Do your research on services that you need for your product, don’t pay too much but not too less either just to save 100$ that will hurt your product’s performance in the long run. 

I am a bit off on my initial calculations and profit projections (about 4000$ off) but I’ve added a couple of things and looked for the best so that decreased my profit. However I as I said I nearly covered both of my re-orders only with my profit. And I have no more photography or give away costs and that will certainly improve my margin. Keep in mind that your first product will not make you a lot of profit but the re-orders when launched successfully will.

Ok, so I am wrapping up here. I hope that this case study helps you to figure out the process in China and how you can apply my techniques to your own product. I have also learned that two of my students will launch the same product in Europe’s Amazon markets and in a few weeks I can give you some more results on the European market with this product

Looking back at this project I would call it a success. Here’s why:

  1. I have a product online that has quite some reviews already (mostly 5 star)
  2. No future investment needed (except re-order inventory)
  3. The product makes me 3,000$ a month minimum, possibly more.

Now onto YOU my loyal reader. Let’s assume you are still considering moving into FBA on Amazon. Imagine this was YOUR first project on Amazon and you are still employed. If you would have started this while working a full time job you could possibly quit your job now and have a guaranteed income of 3,000$ per month. If not, here’s a few scenarios what you could do with those 3,000$ extra:

  1. Escape the rat race and quit your job? Maybe not the safest decision but add one or 2 more products and you are good to go.
  2. Want to add additional income and keep your job? You’ve just added 3000$ to your monthly income.
  3. Want to go to tropical beaches on a holiday and not having to stay at budget hotels?  
  4. Want to send your kids to an expensive school? There you go. 
  5. Need more money to support your family? 

What I am trying to get to you today is:

“Focus on building a brand from the beginning. Keep this in the back of your head with everything you do. The majority of you just starting out has limited capital and can therefore not play around. So build better products from the beginning, have A+ photos and listings, great customer service and don’t be afraid to invest your money into higher priced and better quality products, be unique in what you do.

Look at this business not as a get-rich-quick scheme but rather see your investment as an opportunity to build your brand and in turn make more money in the long run (Do this as opposed to release and launching a product every week). Build it slowly and keep quality and focus in the back of your head.”

One last thing. If you are just starting out do not take your first profit and spend it on a Vegas weekend!

I hope that this case study has somehow inspired you to start your own business.

Be it on Amazon or other eCommerce (or offline channels)

If you are interested in the step by step video lessons (over 50+ video tutorials) and the other great parts of my course have a look at my Masterclass:

https://importdojo.com/importdojo-masterclass/



Analyzed by Jon Elder

Jon has sold over $10 million in sales on Amazon since 2014 and exited 5 Amazon brands for millions. He now helps Amazon sellers experience the same level of success through 1:1 coaching. He is happily married with two kids in Texas!