Show notes
Join us as we embark on a captivating journey with Clarence Cheang, one-half of The FBA Bros, who takes us through his inspiring transition from a full-time civil engineer in Singapore to a successful Amazon FBA entrepreneur. Clarence opens up about the rocky start to his online business back in 2019, where he faced a series of setbacks in the highly competitive niche. Despite facing compliance issues and patent infringement roadblocks, Clarence's relentless spirit and innovative product research techniques eventually led him to leave his day job behind. His story is a testament to the power of perseverance in the face of adversity. Listen in as Clarence shares a remarkable case study on the unpredictability of the Amazon marketplace, illustrated by the unexpected success of doormat sales amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The surge in home decor interest during lockdowns provided a boost for one seller, but also taught a harsh lesson in inventory management as stockouts led to a loss of organic ranking on Amazon. Clarence walks us through the seller's recovery process, employing meticulous data analysis and keyword research, culminating in the serendipitous success of an egg pan product that turned their fortunes around. In this episode, we delve into the nuances of product research and the strategic brand-building essential for standing out on Amazon. Clarence Cheang highlights the crucial role of competition analysis, discussing the tools and techniques necessary to dissect competitors' keyword strategies and assessing product viability. Clarence exemplifies the success of this approach with his 'egg pen' product and underscores the importance of value addition through bundling, which propelled his egg pan to market prominence. We wrap up by exploring the advanced capabilities of Helium 10 tools and the pivotal insights provided by Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer, emphasizing their role in sustaining a product's top-selling status amidst the ever-evolving marketplace challenges. In episode 562 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Clarence discuss: 00:00 - Amazon FBA Seller Success Story 01:55 - Career Exploration And Amazon FBA Launch 08:33 - Amazon FBA Success Through Product Research 09:15 - Stock Mistake Leads To A Big Loss 11:48 - Amazon FBA Success Through Research 13:55 - Product Research Success and Brand Building 19:17 - Strategic Niche Domination 24:32 - Amazon Success and Helium 10 Tools 28:24 - Competitor Conversion Analysis and Cerebro Queries ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we have Clarence on the show, also known as one half of the FBA bros, and he talks about how he had over two years of Amazon failure but didn't give up and then hit Amazon success and was able to quit his day job thanks to his new product research techniques that he's going to share with us. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed. Organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And speaking of serious strategies, we talk a lot about Helium 10 on this show. So if you are interested in giving it a try, if you've never tried it out, make sure you use our podcast discount code, SSP10. Ssp10. Go to Helium10.com, sign up for your account and save 10% off for life. Somebody who's been using Helium 10 for a very long time and coming to us from the opposite side of the world, where it's like almost midnight over there Go ahead and introduce yourself. It's your first time to the show. Clarence: Yeah, so thanks for having me on board, Bradley, it is an honor. So my name is Clarence. I've been selling on Amazon for close to five years now, actually. I started in 2019. And at that time, I was just treating it as a regular side hustle, right? So I worked as a full-time engineer for the government and I was working in the civil industry Basically, it's like construction, right, I think that's the most common term for about close to five years. Yeah, so that's really my background, and I dabbled into Amazon FBA in 2019 after about close to five years in the construction industries, and that's where, as you can see, the rest is history. Bradley Sutton: Okay. So you born and raised in Singapore that's right, that's right, okay. And then went to university there Is being an engineer. Like at what age were you like, hey, this is what I want to do. Or did you just decide once you got to university, or had you been wanting to do that for a while? Clarence: Yeah, I mean it's an excellent question because, for I think, majority of my life I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So it's more like oh, my grades allow me to enter to this program, so why not just give it a try? So I was pretty much aimless, you know, for the better part of my earlier years. Only after that, when I went into the workforce and I realized, oh dang, I don't want to do this for the rest of my life, man. So that's the epiphany moment. And it took me about five years into the job to realize that I need to start a side hustle. And that's why I started researching. And lo and behold, Amazon FBA came out. Bradley Sutton: Your first start was what year again? Your first product that you launched. Clarence: I launched in 2019. 2019. Bradley Sutton: Okay, so pre-COVID still and you launched in Amazon USA, or did you try Amazon Singapore, or where do you launch first? Clarence: Directly on Amazon US, just because it's the largest marketplace. Bradley Sutton: Okay. So at this time, you're still doing your full-time job and you're like hey, let me, let me go ahead and start researching products. Now, the product that you launched way back then. Are you still selling it, or did you get out of it before? What's the situation there? Clarence: Yeah, I've gotten out of it already. It's just when I launched my first products, I made a lot of mistakes and I realized that that's actually not really the best niche to be in. Right, it's in the lighting. What was it? It's in the lighting niche for lighting OK room. Yeah, so that was a pretty brutal market. It's high competition, you need compliance and literally like one year later I got slapped with this compliance issue that I need to show Amazon that I need to get ungated for this entire category. Bradley Sutton: So then pretty much your sales went to a complete stop, because you couldn't provide that compliance? How much did you sell of that product before you had to get out though? Clarence: I sold about close to 1,000 plus units, and that's in a matter of like two to three months. How much did you sell of that product before you had to get out though? I sold about close to 1000 plus units, and that's in a matter of like two to three months, and, lo and behold, I thought I was doing well, and that's where the ungetting email came in. Bradley Sutton: Okay, so you're still making some profit on it, right I'm? Assuming until you couldn't sell anymore. Clarence: Okay, yep, and then so did you lose a lot of money, like did you have a lot of inventory that you just had to throw away? Or I didn't really lose a lot, thank god, because it's more of like, uh, I just need to get the ungating done. But that stopped me from selling in the q4 season because the email came in on october and I took one to two months to get the compliance issues are settled up. So I missed the q4 season and when I'm ungated it's January and yeah, it's back to normal. Bradley Sutton: So you were actually able to get the approval and everything for you. You didn't have to give up on that product. No, I don't have to. Clarence: Okay. Bradley Sutton: So now 2020. Was that 2019? Q4 you were talking about? Clarence: So this is now 2020, the Q4. I mean Q1 when I started selling in January. So I was I mean, I'm happy with that one product and I managed to launch another variation right. And then another tragedy hit, which is at around June, the June of 2020, I got hit by this patent infringement from a competitor, and that is like the last straw for me for this product, because it's just, yeah, it's tough, it's tough, and eventually I found out that, yes, actually I was in the wrong. I didn't do my research properly and somehow I infringed on the design patent that was already approved and somehow I didn't find it out earlier. Yeah, so I spent quite a bit. My lesson here was I spent some of bit, uh. My, my lesson here was uh, I spent some amount of money, uh, to to fight out the case. I actually hired the? Uh, a lawyer to even help me write letters to Amazon and all these things, but it just got nowhere because clearly I'm in the wrong Right. So I think that's my very first knockout punch on Amazon. Okay, yeah. Bradley Sutton: So at that point did you go to zero, or had you launched other products already? Clarence: then I had to go to zero for a while I was fighting this case. So I think the recovery moment was when Amazon asked us to recall all the units because it was just sitting there right, not selling. So it's the right thing to do. We call everything back to our 3PL, the third-party logistics warehouse, and I had to make a decision to take out the offending design, which is just a stand it's like a stand for the lamp and that's the only offending design that's been complained about. So I had to took that out, destroy all the offending design and get my supplier to send in more stands to replace it. So I had to pay a lot of money to get this product out and going, and I remember I had about 800 plus units just to get that retrofitted. And once I got it in, I sent it back to Amazon and I just told myself after this, I'm done with this product, I'm going to move on to the next one. Yeah, so I did sell all 800 and thankfully it is still not too great of a loss at least. Bradley Sutton: You sent the new product in, but then you still gave up on the product because you said you're not selling it anymore today. Right, that one, no more already. Clarence: So as of 2021, I'm out of that market. Yeah, I'm done with that. Bradley Sutton: At what point did you start looking for another product, though? Clarence: That was when I started getting hit with the patent infringement. That was right. That's my epiphany moment and, yeah, I know that I need to have a second product. Bradley Sutton: How did you do your research, trying to find a new product? Clarence: Yeah, I mean back then, you know, in 2019 to 2020,. There were a lot of advice, so I was just figuring things out along the way and I think I fell into this trap where I sell product that I think that it could work. Basically, my gut tells me to work. I mean, looking back right now for what I learned today, that is the foolish mistake that I have done right. So, in essence, the second product that I sold it was a home product like a very simple doormat right, something that's for your, for your entryway, and that product, wow, is also tough. It's a lot of competition, the PPC cost is high and you can't really raise your price as much. So I also learned another valuable lesson there all right, right. Bradley Sutton: So. So then you, you started selling this other product. Now you know some people. You know already a year, two years, a lot of problems, failures and headaches, and lawyers and stuff. You know. Might give up, uh, at this point. But what kept you going? We're like you, just like no, I have to make this work. Clarence: Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, the things that I go through will probably allow like majority of other sellers to give up on Amazon, but I think it's just. I know that this is a viable business model. I've seen it to work for other people and I just tell myself why not me, right? Why not just give myself another shot? So that was like the tenacity that I had in me to just want to make this work so that I don't have to keep getting stuck in the nine to five red race. I think that was my main driving factor. Bradley Sutton: Okay, so then you know all the time you're still at your, your job. Now are we almost in in COVID times. Clarence: Now that's right 2021, that's when COVID hit and the sales boom right. So that was when I the second product, the Dormat product, that one really flew off. I mean that one flew off the shelf really well because of the COVID boom, All right, and I ran out of stock, the doormat sales went up during COVID Doormat of all products doormat. Bradley Sutton: Why, like nobody's visiting your house anymore to wipe their shoe? Clarence: I guess I have more time spending time to decorate the house and doing, okay. So that was the time where a lot of people were doing, yeah, a lot of things at home. So one of the ways, all right, whatever, I don't know. Yeah, okay. So now things are looking up. And then what happened? Exactly? And I ran out of stock. So this is my second mistake. I didn't buy enough, right? The demand just spiked out of nowhere. So I ran out of stock for a good two to three months. And that is where I learned another valuable lesson on Amazon. As you know, right, if you run out of stock for a long period of time, the algorithm literally punishes you in terms of the organic rank. And I lost it all in terms of the organic rank and I thought the sales was good. I had this illusion where this product is doing great, right? So I literally ordered, like, like, doubled the number of inventory as the first inventory and, wow, that was a huge mistake, because I lost all my organic rank during the season where I sold very well. And when I restock, when I'm back in stock, I realized that, hey, my sales is I don't know are no longer like 50 or 60 units a day. They were like trickling, trickled down to like five units or even like three units a day, and that was very worrying because I had doubled the number of inventory I needed to clear right. So that was another great learning lesson for me, which is, hey, manage your inventory well. I think that's really-. Bradley Sutton: How many months were? Clarence: you out of stock. Three months, that was a long-. Okay, yeah, and I'm sure everyone recall that was the period where there's a lot of shipping delays because of COVID and etc. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, so that affected me quite a lot, and that was your only product at the time, that doormat, exactly. Yep, all right, so now, another kind of problem. Now you invested so much money in all this inventory. It's just sitting there. So now, what's your next step? Clarence: So after that, we have like 2000 units of doormats right Stuck in Amazon and I just, yeah, I'm unable to sell it. So what I did was I tried to reduce the price. I did all I can, you know like, increase my PPC budget, reduce the price to even like, like it just doesn't make sense to sell it anymore. So even then I couldn't really sell it as fast as possible, so I had to liquidate that batch of uh doormats right. So that is my second product and it failed spectacularly. Bradley Sutton: yeah, all right. So then you went back to zero then at one point because you didn't have another product goi…
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