E-commerce for Brands

Amazon Products with Potential

E-commerce With Coffee?! podcast guest Christian Kelm explains

In this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! host Nate Svoboda talks to Christian Kelm, VP Product at AMALYZE. The analytics software firm focuses on Amazon search terms and consumer behaviors insights, which Christian explains are both necessary to pick out “products with potential” on the dominant e-marketplace.

Search volume, as it turns out, isn’t enough to identify real product opportunities.

Christian’s passion on the topic can’t go overstated. Throughout the interview he delivers answers with confidence and striking examples.

Even the interview’s opening question (Nate’s usual pry about the guest’s relationship with caffeine) launched Christian into an in-depth answer about which energy supplements work best for his brain.

It becomes clear throughout the episode that Christian has clearly hacked the right energy supplements for him because he and Nate hit the ground running on what is a fast-paced and info-packed interview on E-Commerce with Coffee?!

Where Search Volume Falls Short

Nate and Christian waste no time diving into important questions for brands selling on Amazon. They kick-off, in fact, with the importance of search volume.

As it turns out, search volume alone doesn’t give sellers insights into relevance or product potential, Christian explains. Brands acting as “movers and shakers” in their niche understand clients in a deeper way.

Specifically, it’s about the search volume next to the end sale volume.

This brought the interview to a related and equally important topic: revenue-driving keywords. These search queries (instead of search-volume-only keywords) mark a turning point in the possibilities of a brand’s SEO strategy.

Search volume gets a brand seen by high numbers of consumers. Revenue-driving keywords, on the other hand, gain more sales.

Another term Christian throws into the mix is “SERP volatility,” referring to how frequently the top-ranking results change for keywords. For example, if a competitive keyword has regular changes in the sellers and products showing in page-one search results, that means there’s more opportunity for a brand to break in. Search results where there’s less movement indicate that certain brands already have a stronghold.

Based on SERP volatility, Christian says, you can prioritize which opportunities to move on first.

“What I like to look at is customer behavior and changes in customer behavior,” Christian says. He concludes — brand analytics that go beyond just what the consumer is looking for ultimately have to weigh in what consumers are buying at the end.

Keep reading to learn more about the top tools to research e-marketplace competition.

How to Identify Products with Potential

As Nate and Christian work their way deeper into the interview, Christian explains what going with market trends versus looking for opportunities can mean for a brand. He says sellers on Amazon do too much of the former and often don’t consider the latter at all.

Piggybacking on what’s already successful on Amazon can often mean a brand getting into a niche too late. Instead, finding opportunities that haven’t been leveraged yet feels riskier but can give brands an opportunity to own a new niche or sub-niche.

Christian also discusses the advantages of considering products through the lens of a portfolio. “It’s about the usage of the product,” he explains. A seller shouldn’t focus on multiple stand-alone products in different niches, but a “family” of products that are easy to cross-sell and upsell. Christian then gives the example of kitchen products, which should never be a one-and-done offering.

“Think about what inspires a reaction like ‘oh, I need that too,’” Christian says.

Smarter Amazon Strategies

“You can only adjust your strategy when you have one,” Christian points out as the interview winds down.

He then makes the point that copying what your competitors do or what your coach does will only get results as good as those competitors or that coach. To get unique (and superior) results, a brand needs its own strategy.

Listen to the full episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! for all Christian’s insights on the essential building blocks to any Amazon SEO strategy:

• Revenue-driving keywords
• Extracting opportunities from market trends
• Extracting opportunities from “missing variations”
• Portfolios of products
• SERP volatility
• Competition research
• Negative keyword research
• When to adjust strategy

Amazon is a strategic company — just look at its success. The brands who have the biggest success on the platform are strategic, too, and with the foresight that keeps them ahead of the rest. E-Commerce with Coffee?! pools the knowledge of thought leaders from e-commerce software to strategy, and this episode with Christian Kelm is no exception.

Listen to the full episode or watch it here.