2 brands sold tens of millions, and more Amazon sellers are keen to "sell themselves"!

A seller once joked: "If I hadn't done Amazon this year, I would have been quite rich." This year's Amazon not only made sellers feel powerless, but many of them also wanted to quit. In the past, it was not easy for sellers to get ashore, but since the emergence of Amazon store (brand) acquisition companies last year, sellers have a good exit mechanism.

Nowadays, there are constant news of financing by foreign acquisition companies. In the past, their focus of acquisitions after financing was usually in the European and American markets. However, Markāi from the United States is very special. It not only stated that it would focus on Chinese sellers, but also in terms of acquisition methods, in addition to the 3~4 times annual net profit generally known in the market , it also added a weight: growth dividends.

Millions in debt, lack of growth, Amazon sellers: I’m tired

Many people say that this year is the most turbulent year for Amazon. With the drastic tightening of policies, account blocking, price wars, etc. have hit sellers. In this process, they either exit the market miserably, or continue to hold on, or stay where they are, at a loss as to what to do next.

One seller said he was exhausted. "I thought I would be satisfied with making 300,000 yuan this year, but because of fake orders and the closure of brand-related accounts, I am now in debt of more than 900,000 yuan. I don't know where I will go in the future."

His experience is just the tip of the iceberg of the difficult situation faced by Amazon sellers this year. Before they could recover from the iron-blooded ban, they were dragged into the "price war". The prices of many categories of products on Amazon dropped from more than 50 US dollars to more than 10 US dollars, and various new products were half-price and 90% off. Not long ago, a seller denounced those who came out at 3.99 US dollars in the early morning to do "charity": "Don't give it away, throw it away if it doesn't work, don't ruin the market, if you do this, you won't be able to go up long ago. "

Not to mention the various pitfalls that can make sellers lose money and leave the market at any time. Sometimes they will even hit you hard when you are preparing to celebrate. Just like a seller not long ago, his store was about to change to a new car after the orders exploded, but he didn't expect that before he changed the car, the infringement complaint from the US law firm came first, and the main store was directly closed. The only two new stores he had were also closed because he had no capital investment.

Although risks such as infringement, false orders and account suspension can be avoided to a large extent as long as operations are in compliance, the problem of sluggish growth makes sellers feel powerless.

As we all know, Amazon is now an asset-heavy project. One month's income is almost equal to the investment. Especially in terms of inventory, sellers need a lot of cash flow to prepare inventory. The larger the scale, the more funds are needed. Sellers with tight cash flow simply cannot afford it. Therefore, many people usually encounter growth bottlenecks after reaching a certain scale. Some sellers have joked that when they stop doing Amazon and sell all their goods, they will become rich.

Under the heavy pressure, sellers are exhausted physically and mentally, and some of them decide to withdraw. At this time, how to withdraw beautifully and maximize their own interests has become a question for sellers to think about.

The annual net profit was 3 to 4 times the buyout, and some sellers took tens of millions of yuan.

The entry of Amazon Store (Brand) Acquisition Company last year provided a good exit mechanism for third-party sellers.

Recently, a post on a forum has been widely discussed: "I'm curious how working for Amazon can help me buy a car and a house?" The poster said that he has been working for Amazon for several years, but not only has he not saved enough money to buy a house, but he also owes a large sum of money to banks and suppliers. He is confused about how Amazon can change the current predicament.

I don’t know what sellers can do to buy cars and houses on Amazon, but they can sell their high-quality stores (brands) to Amazon store (brand) acquisition companies. Some people have even achieved financial freedom by selling their own stores (brands).

British seller Michele Venton sold her business, which she had run for nearly four years and had an annual revenue of nearly 10 million pounds (about 86 million yuan), including a clothing brand and a gift brand. She successfully cashed in millions of US dollars (more than 10 million yuan if converted into RMB), becoming a true millionaire.

“As the business got bigger, it became increasingly difficult to find the millions of pounds to buy all the stock that was needed for the rest of the year,” Michelle said. “It required someone with more capital.”

According to incomplete statistics, Amazon store (brand) acquisition companies around the world have completed the acquisition of at least 300 brands. Not only that, the acquisition speed of these companies is still accelerating, which can be seen from the recent financing scale of some acquisition companies. It is reported that on September 1, three acquisition companies in Europe (B**, He**, Ol**) simultaneously received capital injections totaling US$1.1 billion.

At the same time, industry experts also predict that as the field matures next year, there will be larger-scale acquisitions of Amazon store (brand) acquisition companies.

It is understood that currently such acquisition companies mostly make a one-time buyout at a price of 3 to 4 times the annual net profit of the third-party store.

Markāi came to China: annual net profit + growth dividends acquisition of stores

While most companies buy out Amazon stores (brands) at a one-time price of several times their annual net profit, a company that recently entered the Chinese market has added a new acquisition weight: growth dividends. It is Markāi, which recently completed a seed round of financing worth tens of millions of dollars .

It is reported that although Markāi was only established this year, its investors are very prominent, including Pear VC, Signia (early investor of Alibaba), Shopee, WTI (early investor of Google and Facebook) , as well as executives of Jungle Scout and Italic.

We all know that there are quite a few acquisition companies targeting the Chinese market. So compared with other companies, what are the characteristics of Markāi ?

1. Growth dividends. When Markāi acquires a seller’s store (brand), it will not only acquire it at 3 to 4 times the annual net profit , but will also give the store (brand) growth dividends. That is, if the brand achieves growth under the operation of Markāi after the acquisition , the seller will receive dividends on the profit growth for two consecutive years.

Second, focus on acquiring small and medium-sized stores (brands). Most of the current acquisition companies focus on stores (brands) that rank high in the category, which blocks many small and medium-sized stores (brands) from entering the market. It is this market that Markāi is targeting .

3. All acquisition funds are currently used in the Chinese market. Many acquisition companies take China as their main market while also doing business in the UK, the US, India and other countries, but the person in charge of Markāi said that their acquisition funds will currently be used entirely in the Chinese market, and the funds raised in this round of financing will be used to purchase 3 to 4 Amazon stores (brands).

4. The advantages of "Chinese-American hybrids" in local operations are obvious . Markāi has two co-founders, one from China and the other from the United States. They both graduated from Stanford University School of Business. Chinese co-founder Ren Chenyu worked at Bain Consulting, focusing on the field of cross-border e-commerce, and has rich experience in more than a dozen Chinese corporate mergers and acquisitions and restructuring projects; American co-founder Tim Spencer worked in the North American and Asian offices of Golden Gate Capital, one of the largest private equity funds in the United States , for many years, mainly responsible for cross-border mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts, and has a deep understanding of cross-border acquisitions of Chinese companies.

At the same time, Markāi has offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Silicon Valley. Its core members come from international companies such as Amazon and PwC, as well as local companies such as Huaqiang Group and Zebao. With the advantage of being a "Chinese-American hybrid", Markāi can adopt localized operations. The Chinese team is responsible for discovering and acquiring cross-border e-commerce brands, the American team is responsible for data, marketing, product design and the international team is responsible for brand building and packaging. Through China's daily operations and supply chain teams, the strategy is implemented to help Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers tell good stories about going overseas.

If you want to sell your store (brand) to Markāi, please add WeChat: Markai21 for consultation.

Markāi

Acquire Amazon Stores