Calling in Reinforcements

Here I am still dealing with unrealistic monthly targets. Why? Because the management thinks that Disney branded products should be to sell on Amazon, that reaching 500k in sales shouldn’t be that hard, and only minimal advertising budget is needed. Worst of all–they’ve decided next year’s target to be 1M on Amazon UK alone and claimed that with the new products coming in, it shouldn’t be impossible.

I kid you not, this is giving me anxiety.

Anyway, I looked at the numbers, even the competition’s. I presented a lot of data to show that achieving 400k in sales in Q4 alone will be close to impossible given all the changes we made just recently. The account is still growing MOM and YOY but not as fast as what the management is expecting.

What else can I do?

Well, I started calling in reinforcements. By that I mean I’ve contacted a few Amazon agencies to do an audit or performance review of the account. Maybe I’m too close to this account to see everything on a macro level and that an outside perspective is necessary. Also, these agencies are using some kind of software to easily manage advertising campaigns and maximize results given the limited financial resources of their clients. Sometimes agencies have an advantage because they have collective data and experience from all the clients that they handle.

Anyway, the main issue really is–I can’t go all-in on advertising because I am concerned about the profitability but if growth is the goal, profibility will have to be sacrificed in the short run. And from what I’ve observed, sacrificing profitability is out of the question because this company is very conservative when it comes to finances.

Wait, there’s more!

Since we just transitioned to Seller and started selling with higher prices, conversions have been negatively impacted. The top selling products are losing the buy box due to Amazon’s price matching with other marketplaces. And paid advertising–i.e. cost per clicks–has become more expensive.

Issues and challenges don’t seem to end with this account and I am way out of my depth. Should I quit or stick to it?

Coming to this decision–to contact agencies–was hard because I see it as a failure on my part for not being able to meet the management’s expectations. I did a lot of things that helped the account like transitioning from vendor to seller, getting approval to sell under a restricted category and under Disney brand, launched new products, etc. But the situation I’m in right now requires more expertise which I hope one of these agencies can provide.

I am not ashamed to ask for help because I don’t want the account to suffer. If an agency can do a better job than me, I’d be happy to step aside and even give up this account if need be.

If you’re experiencing the same or if you have questions, drop a comment or send me an email.