Dani Avitz's guest appearances

Dani Avitz

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners, and other e-commerce sellers and digital entrepreneurs.

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Jeff Bezos

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Our guest for this episode is Dani Avitz, a serial entrepreneur from Israel. An expert in marketplaces and e-Commerce, Dani has built and sold his e-Commerce business, and currently is a mentor with Techstars. In this episode, we talk about Israeli innovation ecosystem and how Israel continuously has been getting the highest investments per capita than any other nation for more than a decade. We also talk about e-Commerce, and explore the 'is Amazon eating up small businesses?' debate. Tune in on Spotify | Apple iTunes | Google Podcasts | Overcast

Our guest for this episode is Dani Avitz, a serial entrepreneur from Israel. An expert in marketplaces and e-Commerce, Dani has built and sold his e-Commerce business, and currently is a mentor with Techstars. In this episode, we talk about Israeli innovation ecosystem and how Israel continuously has been getting the highest investments per capita than any other nation for more than a decade. We also talk about e-Commerce, and explore the 'is Amazon eating up small businesses?' debate. Tune in on Spotify | Apple iTunes | Google Podcasts | Overcast

#14 The Startup Nation Ft. Dani Avitz, Co-Founder, Algopix

Learn how to avoid Amazon failed products, on how to resource dead inventory and more. Algopix gives a full analysis and shows the most profitable products.How to improve Profitability  	Sourcing - if you don’t buy well, you won’t win (“Profit is made when you buy”) 	Reducing dead inventory Dead inventoryBiggest pain points of dead inventoryIf you buy some products based on intuition and they don’t sell, there are several downsides: 	You’ve spent money (sometimes the bank’s money so you’ll pay interest on the debt) 	You missed out on another opportunity (opportunity cost) 	Usually, when we fail, it’s hard to admit we failed  	They say we are going to pay an analyst and “make sure it will sell” - so now we pay more money 	Instead ask this guy - here is the good inventory I based on data, now how to expose more customers to this.  In Dani’s previous agency, they had some great successes, while some products didn’t move at all. Clients called them asking why this was so and what they were doing with the slower-moving products. Response - “We don’t do magic. We take good products and help you with infrastructure.”If you’re the brand owner -  	You pay money, you brand your product, and if you do a good job, you might succeed. The no. 1 rule  	Make sure you manufacture good products with demand (Creating demand is different from fulfilling it) 	Get it produced at a reasonable price  	Look at competitors 	calculate your expenses 	Reverse engineer and get the price right Data is kingCreativity is important but the data is king to avoid amazon failed products. Let someone do the heavy lifting on the data though to save you time. How else to reduce slow inventory?There are two aspects: Before you source, understanding the market - make a small bet 	Maybe you can tell it won’t be a killer but it has some traffic and demand. It’s a bet -but if you bet on the product based on data you are in a safer position when avoiding amazon failed products. In addition,  if you bet on a product based on only modest sales data, you should be ordering an appropriately modest order size.  If you are a PL seller, work with a factory that has a lower MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity). When you have a product already that is slow-moving. If you will have a decent chance to sell. Perhaps the answer could be international expansion. However,  maybe you’ll understand that demand is low and the only way to get rid of slow-moving inventory is to sell it for cost price. Bear in mind that demand varies and that maybe next month it will be easier. Is it important to assess taxes etc. as part of keyword or market choice?Taxes are part of the game these days. Algopix produces a tax estimation. It is only an approximation but you may need to add about what it predicts. At this point, you might need to discuss with your CPA or accountant if you need more precise figures. Back in 2011, when Dani had started an agency, he visited big companies in UK, EU. 90% of the time he sat with the CEO. The CEO would say “I know I can sell sunglasses on eBay. They are selling on eBay for $80, I can buy it for $20”But Dani’s response would be:  	Somebody offered it for $80. You don’t know if it sold.  	Maybe it did sell but went for $60, not $80  	You don’t know the cost structure.  	Return rate 	Compensation for people who leave negative feedback (eBay) or review (Amazon)You need to take care of all these factors before you can make any decisions!Logistics estimation for FBM or own shippingSince having product size and weight. This can only be an estimation which is pretty accurate. Amazon store auditYou should analyse your competitors’ overall offering if you are to realise understand the competition.  	What products sold, which one did not etc.  	Price points

Learn how to avoid Amazon failed products, on how to resource dead inventory and more. Algopix gives a full analysis and shows the most profitable products. How to improve Profitability  	Sourcing - if you don’t buy well, you won’t win (“Profit is made when you buy”) 	Reducing dead inventory  Dead inventory Biggest pain points of dead inventory If you buy some products based on intuition and they don’t sell, there are several downsides: 	You’ve spent money (sometimes the bank’s money so you’ll pay interest on the debt) 	You missed out on another opportunity (opportunity cost) 	Usually, when we fail, it’s hard to admit we failed  	They say we are going to pay an analyst and “make sure it will sell” - so now we pay more money 	Instead ask this guy - here is the good inventory I based on data, now how to expose more customers to this.   In Dani’s previous agency, they had some great successes, while some products didn’t move at all.  Clients called them asking why this was so and what they were doing with the slower-moving products.  Response - “We don’t do magic. We take good products and help you with infrastructure.” If you’re the brand owner -  	You pay money, you brand your product, and if you do a good job, you might succeed.  The no. 1 rule  	Make sure you manufacture good products with demand (Creating demand is different from fulfilling it) 	Get it produced at a reasonable price  	Look at competitors 	calculate your expenses 	Reverse engineer and get the price right  Data is king Creativity is important but the data is king to avoid amazon failed products.  Let someone do the heavy lifting on the data though to save you time.  How else to reduce slow inventory? There are two aspects:  Before you source, understanding the market - make a small bet 	Maybe you can tell it won’t be a killer but it has some traffic and demand.  It’s a bet -but if you bet on the product based on data you are in a safer position when avoiding amazon failed products.  In addition,  if you bet on a product based on only modest sales data, you should be ordering an appropriately modest order size.   If you are a PL seller, work with a factory that has a lower MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity).  When you have a product already that is slow-moving.  If you will have a decent chance to sell.  Perhaps the answer could be international expansion.  However,  maybe you’ll understand that demand is low and the only way to get rid of slow-moving inventory is to sell it for cost price. Bear in mind that demand varies and that maybe next month it will be easier.  Is it important to assess taxes etc. as part of keyword or market choice? Taxes are part of the game these days.  Algopix produces a tax estimation. It is only an approximation but you may need to add about what it predicts.  At this point, you might need to discuss with your CPA or accountant if you need more precise figures.  Back in 2011, when Dani had started an agency, he visited big companies in UK, EU.  90% of the time he sat with the CEO.  The CEO would say “I know I can sell sunglasses on eBay. They are selling on eBay for $80, I can buy it for $20” But Dani’s response would be:  	Somebody offered it for $80. You don’t know if it sold.  	Maybe it did sell but went for $60, not $80  	You don’t know the cost structure.  	Return rate 	Compensation for people who leave negative feedback (eBay) or review (Amazon) You need to take care of all these factors before you can make any decisions! Logistics estimation for FBM or own shipping Since having product size and weight.  This can only be an estimation which is pretty accurate.  Amazon store audit You should analyse your competitors’ overall offering if you are to realise understand the competition.  	What products sold, which one did not etc.  	Price points

Avoiding Amazon Failed Products with Dani Avitz of Algopix

Product research is very much intertwined with market research and keyword research. In essence, you need to analyse demand and profitability.Algopix is a product market research tool for Amazon sellers. Algopix is a trusted data source for over 65,000 sellers worldwide. Which marketplaces are we talking about? (Amazon/eBay etc.)?Amazon eBay Walmart16 total marketplacesCo-founder Ori and Dani built a seller agencyBiggest pain point was dead inventory - almost 20% of inventory $450 B dollarsImproved results of reducing dead inventory 12-7% Who are the different kinds of sellers on Amazon/marketplaces you work with?  	Resellers 	Private Label sellers before investing - and invest competitors 	Brands who want to understand their own catalogue  	WholesalersWhat is the difference, in your opinion, between “product research”, “market research” and “keyword research”?Very much related and intertwined. Info is mostly related to different marketsEg specific product - UPC, ASIN etc. Market level - demand level, competition, sales history. Sales history - sales performance - unit sales and revenue - important for research. If you have a specific product in mindThe product identifier is for a specific product. Searching more broadlyThis is more about keyword research - broader keyword searches and gets relevant product listings. A new tool in Algopix for this. Which types of Amazon reseller need to focus on keyword research?Private label sellers don’t have a specific product in mind - this is good for them. For brand owners to analyse their brand they need to be as general as they can so they don’t miss the competition. Whereas wholesalers have a specific product identifier to analyse. From the data analysis, they can see how.What are the top 2-3 key factors for deciding what markets to enter? (Product research/market research/kw research) The three top factors are demand, profitability and competition. Sufficient demand is critical but doesn’t have to be huge. Sufficient is defined by profitable. Profitability - you need to consider ALL your costs 	Not just purchasing, but shipping, taxes - marketplace fee - payment provider eg PayPalRegarding Competition: the key is to avoid crowded markets to avoid price wars. This is usually connected to demand as well. Medium to high demand and low-to-medium competition is the sweet spot. How do you analyse demand?Look at past info combine with common sense - or use machine learning and an algorithm which Algopix does for you. How do you go about competitor analysis?Even in a market will low competition, you should never neglect them. Competitive analysis is critical. On Amazon, you look at the total number of competitorsFactors include:  	Buy box price - winners of buy box get 90% of traffic.  	reviews 	Sales volume  How do you define a competitor?Firstly if you’re looking for a specific product using an identifier, this is simpler. But if a user uses a broader keyword term, you need to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant search results.Algopix can do this, Eg “watch” won’t bring up “watch batteries".Sometimes there are in-between things that could be or not relevant. This is where human judgement is still needed. Algopix also learns about how you work with results and results on the basis of what you do How does profitability come into your market/product choice?It is obviously critical to running a good business. SO it’s also critical in choosing a market. If you’re selling a low and medium price product, you need to consider- marketplace fees 	Shipping 	Payment processing fees (eg Paypal on eBay)  	Returns 	Storage feesProfitability mistakesThe classic error is that business owners fall in love with being an e-commerce sellerThey get proud of making $10-20,000 a month in sales.

Product research is very much intertwined with market research and keyword research. In essence, you need to analyse demand and profitability. Algopix is a product market research tool for Amazon sellers. Algopix is a trusted data source for over 65,000 sellers worldwide.  Which marketplaces are we talking about? (Amazon/eBay etc.)? Amazon eBay Walmart 16 total marketplaces Co-founder Ori and Dani built a seller agency Biggest pain point was dead inventory - almost 20% of inventory $450 B dollars Improved results of reducing dead inventory 12-7%  Who are the different kinds of sellers on Amazon/marketplaces you work with?  	Resellers 	Private Label sellers before investing - and invest competitors 	Brands who want to understand their own catalogue  	Wholesalers What is the difference, in your opinion, between “product research”, “market research” and “keyword research”? Very much related and intertwined.  Info is mostly related to different markets Eg specific product - UPC, ASIN etc.  Market level - demand level, competition, sales history.  Sales history - sales performance - unit sales and revenue - important for research.  If you have a specific product in mind The product identifier is for a specific product.  Searching more broadly This is more about keyword research - broader keyword searches and gets relevant product listings.  A new tool in Algopix for this.  Which types of Amazon reseller need to focus on keyword research? Private label sellers don’t have a specific product in mind - this is good for them.  For brand owners to analyse their brand they need to be as general as they can so they don’t miss the competition.  Whereas wholesalers have a specific product identifier to analyse.  From the data analysis, they can see how. What are the top 2-3 key factors for deciding what markets to enter? (Product research/market research/kw research)  The three top factors are demand, profitability and competition.  Sufficient demand is critical but doesn’t have to be huge. Sufficient is defined by profitable.  Profitability - you need to consider ALL your costs 	Not just purchasing, but shipping, taxes - marketplace fee - payment provider eg PayPal Regarding Competition: the key is to avoid crowded markets to avoid price wars. This is usually connected to demand as well.  Medium to high demand and low-to-medium competition is the sweet spot.  How do you analyse demand? Look at past info combine with common sense - or use machine learning and an algorithm which Algopix does for you.  How do you go about competitor analysis? Even in a market will low competition, you should never neglect them.  Competitive analysis is critical.  On Amazon, you look at the total number of competitors Factors include:  	Buy box price - winners of buy box get 90% of traffic.  	reviews 	Sales volume   How do you define a competitor? Firstly if you’re looking for a specific product using an identifier, this is simpler.  But if a user uses a broader keyword term, you need to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant search results. Algopix can do this, Eg “watch” won’t bring up “watch batteries". Sometimes there are in-between things that could be or not relevant.  This is where human judgement is still needed.  Algopix also learns about how you work with results and results on the basis of what you do  How does profitability come into your market/product choice? It is obviously critical to running a good business. SO it’s also critical in choosing a market.  If you’re selling a low and medium price product, you need to consider - marketplace fees 	Shipping 	Payment processing fees (eg Paypal on eBay)  	Returns 	Storage fees Profitability mistakes The classic error is that business owners fall in love with being an e-commerce seller They get proud of making $10-20,000 a month in sales.