It’s hard for sellers who are just starting out on Amazon.
The programs, processes, and competition can be incredibly overwhelming, especially for startups.
For young businesses to succeed, they need access to educational data that can help them improve their processes.
One powerful way to do that is by making it easy and frictionless to get value from AI technology.
We talked to Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO here at Teikametrics, about how democratizing data can help businesses maximize their potential.
Watch the full interview here.
Why scaling is so hard
There are incredible stories of entrepreneurs or brand owners who have launched on Amazon and scaled quickly.
But most startup businesses need a bit of a boost to get going, which is where Flywheel 2.0 comes in.
Flywheel 2.0 collects and analyzes data across every aspect of your marketplace business to give you better automated results.
“What we do with Flywheel is optimize that ad spend for the highest possible return,” Alasdair said. “And that’s where every seller needs that automation. And we want to give that away to them and allow them to use it.”
If there’s a disconnect between the amount of ad spend and the return on investment you’re seeing, Flywheel optimizes that ad spend for the highest possible return rate.
And for businesses that make less than $10,000 of GMV or monthly sales, access to Flywheel 2.0 is completely free.
The goal isn’t to monetize small businesses—it’s to help them thrive.
“We’re constantly optimizing to ensure the performance of your advertising relates to the overall growth of the business,” Alasdair said. “And that’s the Flywheel effect that we’ve been so passionate about.”
If a new seller can get a foothold in the marketplace, they are more likely to be able to scale their business.
The value of free opportunities
Businesses have to deliver value to exist, and for Teikametrics, value comes from partnering with small businesses.
“Retail’s really hard,” Alasdair said. “There are so many different cuts into your margin, into your gross margin. Marketplace fees, shipping fees, rising shipping fees, by the way, advertising costs. We want to be on the mission of continually helping optimize all of those to really make you more money and grow.”
Flywheel 2.0’s value doesn’t come from adding to the fees of a small business, but by partnering with them to help them thrive.
“It’s less about free in the sense of value being given away for nothing,” Alasdair said. “It’s about a partnership, and it’s about us proving value-free as an opportunity for Teikametrics to show what it can do.”
With no credit requirement and no initial fee, Flywheel 2.0 is a great opportunity for small businesses to utilize AI technology and see how it can help them grow.
You need education to achieve success
The democratization of data is critical to give businesses a level playing field, but just making AI technology available isn’t enough.
AI tech allows you to automate processes, but businesses need to be educated so they know how best to use that tool.
At Teikametrics, we have a plan to give sellers that education for free.
“We want to compile the learnings,” Alasdair said. “We want to compile the insights, the hard facts that only we have because of the scale, and we want to package that in an educational format that’s truly valuable to every seller.”
The world of ecommerce is moving quickly, with different challenges and issues constantly cropping up.
At Teikametrics, our goal is to be the guide for small businesses that are still learning how to navigate this new terrain.
“We’re almost thinking of ourselves as Sherpas,” Alasdair said. “You are going through a tremendously challenging journey through the mountains, trying to climb to the top. Who do you trust?”
Education can help you use AI products more successfully, but you need to choose your teachers wisely.
Learn the AI playbook
Many businesses have performed extremely well by using Teikametrics’ AI technology to increase their return on investment.
But what are the secrets to success?
“That’s what every seller wants to know,” Alasdair said. “How do you succeed? What is the playbook? What should you be automating? Which ad types? What should I do with various scenarios?”
Those questions can only be answered one way: through experience.
And the scale of Teikametrics’ dataset means they have the experience to understand what does and doesn’t work when it comes to online retailers.
“We’re in a position because of our learnings, because of our data, to be able to actually provide that,” Alasdair said. “And it’s a winning combination.”
Knowing what programs to use and why is important, but you also need to know how to use those programs if you want to give your company a shot at scaling.
Think bigger
Getting a handle on the market conditions and resolving logistics and supply chain issues are both important aspects of selling online.
But there’s one other thing that sellers can use to help them overcome the challenges of online selling: going multichannel.
“We’ve been able to help so many sellers sell on more than one platform,” Alasdair said. “Amazon, Walmart, and we’re working on other platforms like Instagram and eBay and Target.”
The opportunity to think multichannel and diversify your portfolio is a great way to help your company grow.
But selling on multiple channels means it’s more important than ever to implement the right execution of AI technology.
Automation becomes even more valuable if you want to get cross-channel optimization due to the complexity of a diverse portfolio.
“I think sellers that can implement that in 2022 and beyond, those are the ones that are going to get competitive advantage versus just entirely being risk-focused on one channel,” Alasdair said.
The top sellers are the ones who find opportunity and look for new ways to create incremental growth on multiple channels as opposed to being limited to a single venue.
While AI tech presents a steep learning curve, it is well worth learning how to use.
If you want to scale your business, take advantage of the opportunities that are available to make your return on investment worthwhile.
