Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Amazon, as one of the world's largest e-commerce platforms, provides a vast sales channel for numerous brands and merchants. However, with the change of market environment and the adjustment of enterprise strategies, some brands have begun to realize that relying solely on a single third-party platform may have certain limitations and risks. Therefore, multi-channel layout and the establishment of an independent site have become their new choices.
An independent site, as an emerging e-commerce model, can not only provide sellers with greater autonomy and flexibility but also increase profit margins through the accumulation of its own traffic, thus standing out in the fierce market competition.
However, many sellers have stated that setting up an independent site is not an easy task and they need to face many challenges. Traffic acquisition is a major problem. The Amazon platform itself has a large amount of user traffic, while an independent site requires sellers to attract and accumulate users on their own. This means that sellers need to invest more time and money in marketing and advertising to increase the website's popularity and attract potential customers.
Based on these backgrounds, in 2023, Google officially launched the Google Incubation Camp project in collaboration with YUGUO Cross-Border. With the assistance of YUGUO Cross-Border in invitation, 6 offline exchange meetings were held in Q4 of 2023, recruiting more than 200 sellers and focusing on incubating more than 20. More than 85% of them achieved orders within 30 days, and among them, high-quality sellers broke even in advertising ROAS within 45 days.
On April 9, 2024, a senior delegation composed of Arlene, Vice President of Google Greater China, Stella, General Manager of Google Customer Sales and Partners, Eli Liu, General Manager of Google Partners E-commerce, and Lydia Luo, Director of Google Customer Sales, visited YUGUO Cross-Border and conducted in-depth one-on-one interviews with two customers who participated in the incubation camp. The core topic of this interview was to explore the challenges, needs of Amazon sellers in the process of transforming to an independent site, and the achievements made through the Google Incubation Camp.
The incubation camp sellers present this time were a backpack customer with tens of millions of sales on Amazon and a leading hardware category customer on Amazon. During this exchange, the Google official delegation not only learned about the actual situation of the sellers in detail but also had in-depth discussions on how to make better use of Google's resources and tools to promote the growth of the independent site. Leon and Lin Yanjuan, two senior vice presidents of YUGUO Cross-Border, warmly welcomed the arrival of the Google official delegation and accompanied them, demonstrating YUGUO Cross-Border's high attention and support for partners and customers.
The backpack category customer who visited this time admitted that orders had been successfully placed within one month of participating in the Google Incubation Camp, and the effect had initially emerged.
The person in charge clearly stated that although Amazon provides a relatively stable and predictable sales environment, the operation of an independent site is more like an unknown adventure and requires more time, energy, and professional knowledge to explore and manage. In terms of brand building, sellers strive to create an attractive brand image by deeply understanding customer needs and telling fascinating brand stories, hoping to achieve the goal of generating their own traffic.
The Google Incubation Camp has played a crucial role in this process, providing sellers with a clear operation framework and step-by-step guidance, helping them establish a systematic business strategy and think from the perspective of consumers. The incubation camp has not only alleviated the sellers' concerns about time, knowledge, and technology but also inspired their confidence and determination to successfully operate an independent site.
During the interview, the seller also mentioned that friends around generally believe that an independent site is the only way for brand development, but there is a general lack of successful cases and confidence. This shows that market education and the sharing of successful cases play an important role in motivating sellers to transform. The seller suggested that Google can conduct more market education activities with partners such as YUGUO Cross-Border to clearly convey how to help customers succeed and create benchmark cases, thus building the confidence of local sellers.
The customer mainly engaged in the hardware category also mentioned that within one month of participating in the Google Incubation Camp, a certain number of independent site consumers had been brought in and customers had been successfully converted to place orders. Among them, Google Ads has become the first channel for new customer traffic.
The person in charge said that initially they adopted a multi-platform layout strategy, mainly focusing on Amazon, while the independent site could not be fully operated due to limited resources. The decision to participate in the Google Incubation Camp was mainly based on trust in Google official and the expectation of improving the stability of independent site operation.
Through the study in the incubation camp, the seller has a more systematic understanding of the operation of the independent site. Although most of the content is conceptual, the seller realizes that there is a gap between theory and practice and hopes to obtain more practical guidance. In terms of operation strategies for Amazon and the independent site, the seller has adopted differentiated display and product strategies and positioned the independent site as a bathroom expert to fully display the product series.
They have set clear short-term and long-term goals for the independent site. The short-term goal is to achieve at least one order per day on average within half a year, and the long-term goal is to make the independent site the main profit-making platform and reduce dependence on other e-commerce platforms. Although the incubation camp has brought positive changes, the seller remains cautiously optimistic about the future and believes that more time is needed to stabilize and convert the volume.
Finally, the customer pointed out that a significant advantage of the independent site is that it can directly interact with customers, better understand customer needs, and provide high-quality after-sales service.
Through in-depth interviews with two Amazon sellers, we can gain insights into the challenges and needs faced by many sellers in the process of setting up an independent site. The voices of these sellers reveal their common concerns in independent site operation, brand building, and marketing. The Google Incubation Camp has played a key role in this process, providing sellers with the necessary knowledge, skills, and support to help them smoothly transition to the independent site model.
Looking ahead, the Google Incubation Camp will continue to work closely with YUGUO Cross-Border, focusing on the Fujian market as the center of the transformation pilot. This strategy aims to cultivate and support more sellers who are interested in establishing an independent site, providing them with customized training and practical guidance to ensure that they can gain a firm foothold and achieve sustainable growth in the fierce e-commerce market. Through such cooperation, the Google Incubation Camp can not only help sellers overcome the obstacles in the process of setting up an independent site but also promote the prosperity and development of the entire cross-border e-commerce ecosystem.
(Source: YUOGUO Cross-Border Editorial Department)
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