How to leverage $800 to $500,000 in monthly revenue? These small Amazon teams are amazing

As the saying goes: "A husband and wife working together can cut through metal." In modern society, a husband and wife working together can not only overcome difficulties, but also make money together, which is called a "husband and wife shop." Looking at both domestic and foreign countries, "husband and wife shop" is the golden model for early entrepreneurship.

Overseas, Amazon, a cross-border e-commerce unicorn, was originally created from scratch by Bezos and his wife MacKenzie. In China, Dangdang.com, once known as the "Amazon of China", was also the result of the hard work of Li Guoqing and his wife Yu Yu.

A 2017 survey of family-owned businesses listed on the Chinese mainland showed that over 50% of them were run by couples. In the 2022 Hurun Global Rich List, there are 36 Chinese billionaires, 10 of whom are couples.

In the field of cross-border e-commerce in China, there are more examples of this kind of two-sword combination, and it can even be said to be the most common entrepreneurial combination. One of them is responsible for operations, and the other is responsible for supply chain. They quickly accumulate wealth, and some even take their companies public.

When a couple starts a business together, they can share the risk of failure and reduce operating costs. Especially in the cross-border e-commerce industry, this model also has a natural advantage: preventing the leakage of core information and data.

Not only couples, in the cross-border e-commerce circle, there are a large number of small teams of several or more than a dozen people. However, the revenue and even profits they generate each year are very considerable, and they live a very comfortable life.

$800 leverages $500,000 in monthly revenue, this husband-and-wife team is amazing

In the field of cross-border e-commerce, "getting rich overnight" is often more associated with Amazon. Many couples doing cross-border business also made their first pot of gold on Amazon.

Although there are many cross-border e-commerce platforms, Amazon's unicorn status is still unshakable. For example, in the United States, where major cross-border e-commerce platforms are competing fiercely, the largest market share is still firmly in the hands of Amazon. According to data from the eMarketer website, by 2022, Amazon will account for 39.5% of the total e-commerce retail sales in the United States, that is, nearly $2 of every $5 of online consumption will come from Amazon, while the other 14 largest online platforms such as Walmart and eBay can only get a 31% share of this pie.

In addition, Amazon has 310 million active users worldwide , which is almost the same as the total population of the U.S. Among these active users, 90 million are Amazon Prime members , who spend an average of $1,300 per year on the platform , and the remaining 220 million non-Prime members spend an average of $700.

MarketPlace Pulse data shows that in 2021, 60,000 third-party sellers had sales exceeding $1 million , and approximately 350,000 sellers had sales exceeding $100,000.

The cost for many sellers to leverage this sales volume may not be high. Jungle Scout data shows that most small and medium-sized sellers (69%) spend less than $5,000 (about 32,000 yuan) to start a business on Amazon , and 32% of sellers spend less than $1,000 (6,400 yuan).

Many mom-and-pop stores have generated annual revenues of tens or even hundreds of millions of yuan with a small amount of start-up capital.

In 2016, a couple in Florida (Nate Jackson and Alysha) started Amazon with $100 as startup capital. Two and a half years later, their sales exceeded $1 million, and net profit accounted for about 25% of total sales, that is, in two and a half years, the couple earned $250,000.

Before starting Amazon, Nate Jackson and Alysha were both elementary school teachers, but after having a child, it was difficult to support the family with a teacher's salary, so Nate began to research other sources of income and stumbled upon information about Amazon retail arbitrage. Based on factors such as low entry cost and high scalability, they began selling women's underwear on it.

In an interview, the couple said they hoped to work on Amazon from home full-time and earn enough money to retire before they were 35 (they were 28 and 29 at the time).

In Nevada, Texas, another young couple also started their Amazon business with very little capital. In 2015, 25-year-old Justin and Channing Dyson placed their first order on Alibaba's procurement website with $800. On the second day of listing on Amazon, they sold 10 products. By 2019, their monthly sales exceeded $500,000, and sales reached $4 million in 2018. In 2019, the growth rate accelerated, with annual sales reaching $6 million!

In fact, before working full-time at Amazon, Justin was still working for his father while attending college, and Channing was a hairdresser. They worked more than 50 hours a week, but it was still difficult to make ends meet, let alone buy a house on their own. When they were thinking about how to make money, they discovered Amazon by chance. As the business took off, the couple not only no longer had to work hard for a living, but also had more time to spend with their family. At the same time, better financial conditions also allowed them to travel with their children frequently.

Such successful "husband-and-wife stores" are not uncommon in China, not only in the United States. A fan of Yien.com once said that his friend and his wife worked on Amazon and could make 300 to 400 million yuan a year. Another seller said that he and his wife also worked on Amazon, and currently the two of them have a revenue of 20 million yuan a year. Another couple in Shenzhen who worked on Amazon clothing also said that their gross profit reached 1 million yuan last year.

Amazon Global Store has also reported a similar case. There was a couple. The husband used to run a domestic e-commerce company. Later, the business began to decline, so the husband decided to transform into cross-border e-commerce with his wife, and came to Shenzhen from Shanxi to do Amazon. In 2020, their products have been firmly in the top three in Amazon's related rankings.

"He writes listings and selects products, and I'm responsible for packing and shipping. I may understand things he doesn't understand, and he may not understand things I understand. We support and help each other." A couple who just started to transform from a physical store to an Amazon store together last year said when introducing their division of labor.

In fact, many Amazon mom-and-pop stores have survived by supporting each other in this way. They are not large in scale, but their profits are considerable. "Because mom-and-pop stores have low labor costs, they choose small hits that have good profits. If they are good, they can easily get more than 100 orders a day. Big sellers are unwilling to sell these products, which gives mom-and-pop stores room to survive and reduces competition. Therefore, it is not surprising that a couple can make tens of millions of profits a year." said a seller with 20 years of experience in cross-border e-commerce and foreign trade operations.

At the same time, Amazon mom-and-pop stores have another monetization model, which is to sell their own brands /stores to aggregators. For example, David Stephen sold the gardening tool brand he and his wife founded to the aggregator Heroes at several times the annual gross profit.

On Amazon, not only a couple, an individual, or a small team of three or five people can create considerable profit margins.

The small team is small, but it is "really good"

On Amazon, the number of people and revenue or profit is not necessarily proportional. Sometimes a large sales team with hundreds of people may not have higher profits than a small team of more than a dozen people. Among these small teams, there are many small teams like husband-and-wife stores that have annual sales of millions, and it is not uncommon for a team of 5 to have annual revenue of hundreds of millions.

Someone once visited an Amazon company. Their team has a total of 10 people (6 in operations, 2 in product development, and the other 2 in finance and the boss). They started to enter the market in 2019. After three years, by 2021, the annual sales had reached 500 million yuan, with a profit margin of about 20%, that is, 10 people can create 100 million yuan in net profit each year, and the labor efficiency is very high. According to the person in charge, the current annual revenue is far from reaching the ceiling.

The four-person team also started to layout Amazon in 2019. They mainly deal in musical instruments, home textiles, sporting goods and other categories. After one year of operation, the annual sales have reached tens of millions. In terms of category layout, the person in charge has a very clear goal, starting with the harmonica category that he is familiar with, and then expanding into other categories after this category becomes profitable.

There is also a 4-person team that is also very powerful, with monthly sales reaching 2 million yuan. It is reported that although they are small in number, their division of labor is very clear: one is responsible for finding the supply chain, integrating product supply, and other supporting resources; one is responsible for specific operations and daily affairs of store operations, including promotion plans, controlling the promotion rhythm, optimizing product listings, etc.; another is responsible for auxiliary operations, product labeling, contacting freight forwarders for delivery, etc., and the last one is responsible for product design optimization, visual effects, image design, etc.

The editor also learned that there is an Amazon boutique team in Shanxi with 5 people, which can sell tens of millions of products a year. Among them, there are 3 stores with monthly sales of 180,000 US dollars, but they do not have many products. Their performance growth has always relied mainly on this sector: product innovation and research and development, data-driven operations, and supporting overseas marketing.

Compared with large sales, small teams of a few to a dozen people are more common in the industry, and are also the size of entrepreneurship that many people recognize and choose. These small teams have significant advantages, they can attack or defend, and have less financial pressure. In comparison, large sales with a large number of people face a very big test in terms of management ability and management efficiency. In addition, there is also great pressure in terms of capital replenishment and personnel coordination. There is no performance, but employees' salaries must be paid as usual. The shell that the company carries is very heavy.

Regarding profits, an Amazon seller once said: "Hiring one person does not necessarily increase the company's profits, but laying off one person can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs each year." This shows that in the cross-border e-commerce business, the number of people is not necessarily positively correlated with revenue and profits. We can also verify this from some big sellers.

Recently, Anker Innovations, a cross-border e-commerce "big brother", just released its 2021 financial report, which shows that as of December 31, 2021, Anker Innovations had a total of 3,532 employees, but this huge team of thousands of people only leveraged 10 billion yuan in revenue and 982 million yuan in net profit in 2021. There is also Yibai Network, which successfully went public through a backdoor listing, with a revenue of 4 billion yuan and a net profit of 370 million yuan in 2020 , but it mobilized 2,789 people.

Among cross-border sellers, the net profit margins of Anker Innovations and Yibai Networks are considered considerable. In the case of many big sellers, the revenue looks very good, but the net profit margin is pitifully small.

Those cross-border big sellers who came from "husband and wife teams"

Husband-and-wife team is indeed the golden entrepreneurial model. In the cross-border circle, many well-known big sellers have come out of this model. Now I will list some of these big sellers and introduce their current development.

Chain of Value

When it comes to big-selling couples, most people first think of Jiazhilian, founded by Gan Qingcao and Zhu Ling. "Peking University tycoon", "failed in gambling", "compensated 1 billion", "ran away"... these words are the reasons why people pay attention to this couple and Jiazhilian.

In 2017, Xunxing Co., Ltd. announced that it would acquire 65% of Jiazhilian's equity for RMB 1.01 billion. According to the agreement, Gan Qingcao and his wife promised that Jiazhilian's net profit would be no less than RMB 100 million, RMB 160 million and RMB 250 million from 2017 to 2019 respectively.

"As the first stock in the cross-border ecosystem", Jiazhilian has received widespread attention, but unfortunately, everyone knows the outcome. The bet failed, and Xunxing Co., Ltd. issued an announcement that Gan Qingcao and Zhu Ling were stranded in the United States with their young son. At the same time, Gan Qingcao and his wife need to pay Xunxing Co., Ltd. 1.014 billion yuan in performance commitment compensation. In addition, 100% of Jiazhilian's equity is held by Xunxing Co., Ltd.

As of September 30, 2021, Xunxing Co., Ltd. has received a total of 121,637,672 yuan in execution funds. Recently, there was news that Gan Qingcao, who had been stranded in the United States, has returned to China.

Tongtuo Technology

When Tongtuo Technology was established, Zou Chunyuan and Liao Xinhui agreed that Zou Chunyuan, Liao Xinhui and Li Xuehua would jointly invest in the establishment of the company, and Liao Xinhui and his wife would be responsible for the company's operation and management. On April 15, the parent company Yiwu Huading Nylon Co., Ltd. issued an announcement that the legal representative of Tongtuo Technology was changed from "Liao Xinhui" to "Zou Chunyuan". The actual helmsman of Tongtuo Technology has changed.

Tongtuo Technology's IPO bet also failed. In the equity transfer agreement signed with Huading Co., Ltd., Liao Xinhui, Zou Chunyuan and Shenzhen Tongwei Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) promised that Tongtuo Technology would achieve a cumulative net profit of 872 million yuan in 2017, 2018 and 2019. But at the end of the three-year period, Tongtuo Technology only achieved 710 million yuan, with a difference of 162 million yuan. On July 6 last year, Huading Co., Ltd. received a letter of concern from the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau, requiring Huading Co., Ltd. to urge Tongwei Investment, Zou Chunyuan and Liao Xinhui to pay Huading Co., Ltd. the promised compensation amount of 349 million yuan, which is equivalent to 37.3288 million shares.

As a popular distributor, Tongtuo Technology sells products in many categories including 3C electronics, outdoor home furnishings, photography and audio-visual, beauty and clothing. In 2021, Tongtuo Technology started a diversified layout, began horizontal development, and proposed a three-pronged development strategy of "talent training + project incubation + investment fund". In July last year, Tongtuo announced the establishment of the Cross-border E-Academy, launched a one-stop cross-border incubation training service, and has opened several classes. In December of the same year, Tongtuo established a cross-border e-commerce equity investment fund, focusing on investment and incubation of small and beautiful cross-border e-commerce teams.

Best Thai

Xu Xinhua, the actual controller of Bestec, is married to Xu Xin, a director of the company (who withdrew in July last year). Bestec is currently a listed company on the New Third Board. Recently, China Business Network released the "Top 100 Chinese Cross-border E-commerce Companies in 2021", and Bestec was on the list. Other big names on the list include SHEIN, Anker Innovations, Banggood Technology, etc.

Compared with other "big guys" in the industry, many people may not be very familiar with Besttech. Besttech relies on third-party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Japan's Rakuten. It mainly sells automotive electronics, power supplies, and digital peripheral accessories. It has transformed from early F2B and B2B (traditional factories) to cross-border e-commerce F2C and B2C export business.

The financial report shows that in the first half of 2021, Bestec's revenue was 91.1685 million yuan. Although the revenue decreased year-on-year, the net profit increased by 40.07% year-on-year to 10.2061 million yuan.

Bestek is also highly dependent on Amazon. In 2020, its revenue from Amazon was 180 million yuan, accounting for 80% of its total revenue. However, in recent years, Bestek has actively deployed new markets, new platforms and new categories. For example, Bestek is currently sold in Rakuten Japan and Yahoo Japan. At the same time, it further expanded into the field of home medical health in 2020, selling its own brand of power supplies, smart power strips and home medical equipment products to Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. The "BESTEK" brand has a certain degree of popularity overseas.

Cross-border communication

In 2014, Yang Jianxin spent more than 1 billion yuan to acquire all the shares of Global Easybuy from Xu Jiadong and others, and changed its name to Cross-border Link, transforming from "the first stock of professional trousers enterprise" to "the first stock of cross-border e-commerce market", completing a brilliant transformation. The predecessor of Cross-border Link was Baiyuan Pants Industry, an A-share listed company, which was built by Yang Jianxin and his wife Fan Meihua.

In recent years, Cross-Border Communication has been plagued by many problems. Not only has it been *ST, but its stock price has also continued to decline. In the second half of 2017, the price of each share of Cross-Border Communication once exceeded 24 yuan, and its total market value exceeded 34.5 billion yuan. However, now, as of the close of April 13, 2022, its price per share is only 3.15 yuan, and its total market value is 4.768 billion.

On May 17 last year, Cross-Border Communication announced that the Shanxi Regulatory Bureau had issued a warning letter, stating that the company's 2020 performance was actually a loss, but it falsely recorded the loss as a profit, and the information disclosure was inaccurate, which violated laws and regulations. In its 2020 performance forecast on January 30 last year, Cross-Border Communication stated that it expected to make a profit of 100 million to 150 million in 2020, but then it issued a "Performance Forecast Amendment Announcement" stating that the net profit in 2020 is expected to be a loss of 3 billion to 3.8 billion.

In fact, this is not the first time that Cross-Border Link's performance has "changed dramatically". From 2018 to 2020, Cross-Border Link issued performance forecast revision announcements every year, and each time the net profit was revised downward. In 2018, the profit decreased, in 2019, the loss increased, and in 2020, it turned from profit to loss.

However, compared with the above, the issue of its subsidiary Global Easybuy owing suppliers hundreds of millions of yuan in payments has caused even more controversy. In this incident, there have been reports of suppliers kneeling down and jumping off buildings. Many suppliers from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Yiwu, Xiamen and other places have gathered at Global Easybuy's office to collectively demand payment.

At the same time, new lawsuits against Cross-Border Link and its subsidiaries also increased rapidly.

In addition to the above-mentioned big sellers, Anker Innovations , the leader in high-quality products and the first stock in cross-border e-commerce , has its major shareholder and actual controller Yang Meng and shareholder He Li, who are also husband and wife. The two hold a total of 47.74% of the company's shares. Anker Innovations also released its 2021 financial report. According to the public financial report data, in 2021, Anker Innovations achieved revenue of 12.574 billion yuan, an increase of 34.45% compared with the same period last year; and achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 982 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.70%.

Another one is San Tai Shares , which is rushing for an A-share IPO . San Tai Shares' largest shareholder is Shenzhen Ziwu Kangcheng Information Technology Co., Ltd., and its former controlling shareholder and executive director Xu Yiwei is married to San Tai Shares' current chairman ZHONGBIN SUN. From 2019 to the first half of 2021, San Tai Shares' revenue was 1.567 billion yuan, 1.993 billion yuan, and 1.229 billion yuan, respectively, with a revenue of nearly 5 billion in two and a half years. At present, the GEM IPO review status of "San Tai Shares" has been changed to "suspended"

Amazon Mom and Pop Store

Anker Innovations

Cross-border communication