The company’s product development secrets were leaked, employees said: Why not?

The entry of more and more new sellers means that new challenges are about to begin.

Since the Amazon price war started, sellers on different sites have reported that inventory has been decreasing, and they have had to start a new round of price cuts to clear inventory. The good days are gone, and the platform's internal competition is getting more and more intense. However, in the industry, this situation is just one of the manifestations of internal competition, and some internal competition even starts from the product selection stage.

The company’s product development secrets were leaked. Who did it?

A few days ago, a seller told a story on the forum about a "product leak" incident that he had personally experienced.

The seller said that they had hired an employee with both development and operation capabilities some time ago, and the company also offered him a very good salary. However, the seller recently discovered that while selecting products for the company, the employee pushed the products to another friend who also worked for Amazon, and got a higher commission from him.

The seller thought that the employee's behavior was inappropriate, so he went to ask the employee. To the seller's surprise, the employee readily admitted what he had done and believed that there was nothing wrong with his behavior.

The employee believes that the product he developed has not been bought out by the company, and he only has an employment relationship with the company. Although the company has paid him a salary, it has not explicitly stated that he can only choose this company. He is responsible for operating the company's account during working hours, and operating or working part-time for other accounts during the rest of the time. What's wrong with that?

Although ability is important, the seller still believes that if he continues like this, he will undoubtedly be cultivating competitors for himself at his own expense.

"I have no way of expressing my suffering" may be the truest voice of sellers who have experienced this. "From the beginning to the end, the product selection stage is already so chaotic. It seems that it is not only the platform that is in trouble. I have to worry about the products while watching out for the employees. It's difficult!" a seller sighed.

The experience of the above sellers has triggered discussions among a number of practitioners, but their focus is very different ↓

"There are plenty of fish in the sea. There are a lot of operators now, and many of them have sufficient work experience."

"The labor contract should be further improved, otherwise it will be hard to explain the reason."

"As someone who has experienced this, I can tell you that it is very necessary to sign a confidentiality agreement with employees."

"We are cultivating competitors from the beginning of product selection. It is difficult to prevent thieves from within the family."

Product selection is indeed one of the key points in the entire sales process. The occurrence of "trouble" in the product selection stage not only reflects the fierce competition in the industry, but also shows from another aspect the impact of product selection on sellers' sales performance.

Recently, many sellers have been busy replenishing stocks and shipping goods in preparation for Halloween. Especially for sellers of seasonal products, major Western festivals are approaching, and product selection will directly affect the overall sales and traffic of the store.

Halloween product traffic is poor, sellers: Will there still be a peak season this year?

Last month, sellers selling Halloween and other holiday products reported that order volume had rebounded, and it was no longer difficult to get a big order. "The peak season has finally arrived. The net profit in mid-August has even exceeded that of July, and the number of orders has increased visibly," said a seller.

Sellers are eager to compete, but the reality is that some are happy and some are worried. Some sellers are enthusiastic about orders, while others are still worried about product traffic.

This week, a seller reported that the sales of seasonal products this year are not optimistic, and the traffic of Halloween products is also very poor . Seeing that some of his peers are experiencing a surge in orders, he is anxious and angry. The editor learned that this seller's stocking style this year is relatively conservative, based on the principle of preferring to make less profit rather than having redundant inventory, so the stocking volume is only one-third of last year's sales volume, and the number of orders is also very small.

"Sales are very slow at the moment, advertising costs account for a high proportion, and shipping prices have been rising. This is too difficult for small sellers like us who sell seasonal products. If we calculate carefully, we will still lose money if we continue like this. Will there still be a peak season this year?" A seller said that the recent surge in shipping prices has had a huge impact on shipments, and on average, he may have to lose money to place an order.

Sea freight affects not only the price, but also the logistics timeliness and the speed of listing. With Halloween and Christmas just around the corner, it is normal for sellers to replenish and ship goods a few months in advance, but the question of " when the goods will arrive after being shipped " is often difficult to predict accurately. One seller reported that a batch of seasonal products he sent four months ago has not arrived yet, and he is currently in an awkward period of having no goods to sell.

When the goods are not on the shelves, there is no stock to sell. But when the goods cannot be sold, inventory issues become the main shortcoming of seasonal products. Sellers expressed different opinions on how to control the "quantity" of seasonal products↓

"Seasonal products still need an overseas warehouse to be effective. Otherwise, with the current logistics and shelf speed, the stock will be cleared sooner or later."

"There's nothing to worry about. We already had a lot of inventory last year, so we'll continue to sell it this year."

“It is better to earn less than to take risks, otherwise the subsequent goods will not be able to be replenished, and the risk is too great.”

“We still need to make an overall assessment based on the sales volume of the product in previous years and recent months, and then combine it with the logistics time efficiency to minimize the time the goods are kept in overseas warehouses.”

Now that we have entered the peak sales season, the editor would like to remind all sellers that while making an evaluation based on data from previous years, they should also put more effort into product selection, gain a deeper understanding of the foreign market, and make adjustments to their products based on the preferences of foreign consumers this year.

Halloween is around the corner and these products are on sale!

Due to the impact of the epidemic, foreign consumers have spent more time at home this year. Against this background, their demand for home and decoration products has increased significantly, which is also reflected in the sales of Halloween-themed products.

Although Halloween is still more than 40 days away, foreign consumers' enthusiasm for buying has already exploded. In addition to the popular products of previous years, such as pumpkins, skulls and masks , another type of product has become a hot topic this year ...

This year's large inflatable decoration products have undoubtedly brought great surprises to foreign consumers. It is understood that a "giant skull", an inflatable Halloween decoration with a height of more than 3 meters, launched by a US retailer has been very popular and met the needs of consumers.

On the Amazon platform, garden dolls, inflatable hats, and Halloween-themed products with scare effects are hot sellers with impressive sales. Sellers can use these as a reference when selecting products. Sellers who have the conditions can also register patents for their products as soon as possible to protect them . At the same time, sellers must also do a good job of infringement searches . The peak season is also a high incidence period for infringement complaints. Many hot-selling products have infringement risks . Don't step into the pit because of carelessness.

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