Issue 108: 3 metrics for product research NO ONE talks about

+ Temu & Politics on Operators

Alright y’all, the first month of Q2 is officially and unequivocally in “the books”. 💪 (That is… after today… you get the idea.)

  1. We hope you crushed the ever-living snot out of it. 😤 

  2. How are we now at the beginning of May in the year 2024?

  3. Does anyone else feel like they’re in a time warp?

  4. Who authorized the year to go by so quickly?

  5. Was there a committee?

  6. Or a sub-committee?

  7. Did we vote?

  8. How do you even register to vote?

  9. 🤯 …

| TWEET OF THE WEEK

Every seller has their own approach to product research.

Some sellers keep things super...instinctual. They simply stick to products that they, as consumers, know well, and just make a better mousetrap.

Some sellers look to ride trends. They monitor search trends through Amazon first-party data (e.g., Brand Analytics - Top Search Terms) or third-party resources like Exploding Topics. They keep open lines of communication with their supplier(s), and get cues on products that are getting increasing orders.

And some sellers get really quantitative. They look for market opportunities though their own unique mix of "proprietary" predictive metrics.

I've seen, and worked with, sellers that have had success with ALL of these methods, so, regardless of what "gurus" on social media tell you, there is no single product research method that universally and consistently outperforms all of the rest.

That said, what worked for you last time won't necessarily work for you next time. The Amazon marketplace is too dynamic and, frankly, it's too hard to disentangle the role of luck and timing from past successful product launches.

Future success requires adaptation, and new ways of thinking about product and market opportunities.

But...Good news! That's exactly what this B@A issue is about.

Let's dive in...

| YOUTUBE UNIVERSITY

E053: Temu & Politics

| TOGETHER WITH SARAL

How not to disappear in the noise of your large competitors 😉

You're a new brand on the block and need to cut through the noise big brands create. They have a massive marketing and advertising budget, more resources, and an established mindshare spot. How do you overcome this David vs Goliath situation?

👉 Try getting some influencers on your side.

🤔 Why?

  • Influencers have a community that listens to them. That means people will hear about you from a trusted source.

  • They're all about being authentic and creative, which can make your products look good in a way that feels right.

  • It's a way to make friends with your customers and carve your spot in the market.

It can be scary to go up against the big names, but it's also a chance to shake things up and make a spot for yourself.

And that's where SARAL comes in. It helps you do all the influencer stuff without the headache.

200+ brands use SARAL to discover influencers, automate outreach, ship products, track sales, and more.

Have questions? Their team can answer→

| QUICK SHOTS

  • @theandreboso: Two big trends are about to change online marketing. The first is the move from social to interest graphs.

  • Jake Abrams: Microingredients made $3.69M on TikTok Shop revenue in the last 7 days. Here are 7 insane stats from their growth…

  • @greggcarey: I appreciate the Temu conversation on the Operators pod this week. 🙏Curious why you wouldn't explore the option of shipping directly from a China-based 3PL if manufacturing there.

  • Yash Chavan: Afraid product seeding is a waste of time/money/effort? Here are 5 ways for you to get a post from influencers after product seeding…

  • @ShaneJ_DTC: most media buyers think that once a test reaches stat. sig. you can just copy it ---> in another campaign and it will perform exactly the same at a higher budget vs. the original ad set.. mostly wrong.

| HERE FOR THE MEMES

| AND IN OTHER NEWS…

Outdoor Voices abruptly closed all its stores and laid off most of its workforce—while its chairwoman posted cat memes

Outdoor Voices was a direct-to-consumer darling once valued at $110 million—but the activewear brand has had a long fall from its glory days.

Google enters its ‘Gemini era’ as search, YouTube ride healthy ad demand

While robust ad spending and generative AI bolstered the tech giant’s biggest moneymaker in Q1, analysts cautioned the future isn’t assured.

TikTok will not be sold, Chinese parent ByteDance tells US

The video sharing app faces being banned in the US unless it severs ties with its China's ByteDance.

The Social Playbook Is Dead. Long Live the Social Philosophy

When brands abide by a rigid rule book, it eliminates the space to play.

Data Suggests Threads Is Seeing More Daily Users in the US Than X

Could Threads be on track to become the real-time social platform of choice?

| GET LINKED

Been saying this for years…

If your competitors can take it away from you, it’s not a USP. Psychological value is the only true differentiator.

(Liquid Death’s CEO Mike Cessario agrees with me).😅

| YOU’RE HIRED

Brand

SaaS

Agency

Got a job you want us to list? Let us know.

| THE OUTRO

  1. Wouldn’t it be better if time didn’t go so quickly?

  2. How do we ensure we can slow it down?

  3. Why is everyone focused on Climate Change when Time Fast Forward is obviously the most important thing on the agenda?

✌️ We want answers!

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