Are you an Amazon Seller?
Does your supply chain start in China?
In the past 30 to 45 days, life has changed. COVID19 has impacted everybody on earth.
If you are a seller on Amazon, and many of us are, it might be time to change your business strategy. If there is one thing that Coronavirus has highlighted for each of us, it is that China is the weak link in our supply chain. That applies to all of us. Everybody from the Government to small sellers like you and me.
Many products from China have dried up. There are no units in the chain right now. Also, many Americans (and others like Europeans) are pretty upset with China. They are upset because China was the source of the virus. They are upset because China is manipulating the supply chain to take advantage of the COVID situation. They are upset because China may be favoring non-USA customers in terms of who gets the product. In short, a lot of Americans have decided that getting most everything we consume from China may not be the wisest move we’ve ever made.
I’m not here to debate whether these feelings are fair to China or not, I don’t really care. If you are a business person, what the customer thinks means bread and butter on your table, or not.
How long with the virus affect life?
The coronavirus is having a huge impact on our lives right now. A large percentage of Americans are in quarantine. It has affected the amount of business being done in our country, and around the world. It has also caused thousands, perhaps millions of Americans to become unemployed.
At this time when business has slowed way down, you have time on your hands. If you are not working, you can spend those normal working hours changing the way you do business, doing so may give you the best chance of success when the economy ramps up again.
If the economy opens back up tomorrow you may not have time. But, that is unlikely, maybe impossible. But, you can get a lot done in a short time.
Cut China out of your supply chain!
If you are buying product from Alibaba or some other Chinese provider, start looking for US manufacturers that can make your products! You think that can’t be done? It can’t be done economically? You’re wrong.
I cut China out of my business in 2015. Because I have been having my products manufactured in the USA for 5 years now, I know you can do it too.
You can do it profitably
Everybody thinks that China is the only place to have manufacturing done cheaply. It’s not true. One of my products that I have been selling on Amazon for years costs me $1.00 to have manufactured here in the USA. It used to cost me more to have it made in China. Having it made in the USA also saves me a lot on shipping costs, and cuts down on the lead time needed to resupply.
So, I know you can find US sources to make your products.
Private Labeling
One of the things you have to overcome, though, is that you will do much better if you actually develop your own products. Over the years, a lot of people will just buy consumables made by suppliers on Alibaba, and then just have them private label those products for you. In the new way of doing business, you’ll do much better if you actually find your own products, develop them yourself, and then hire out the manufacturing.
By developing your own products you cut out the competition. Yeah, if you are private labeling you will be the only one using the name you choose, but there may be dozens of others on Amazon selling the exact same products, just using a different brand name. But you can eliminate this problem by designing and developing your own products.
Are you interested?
If you are interested in developing your own products for sale through Amazon and other online markets, let me know. I will write more about how I do it, and make resources available to you.
Whatever you do, following the same Alibaba path is going to be a lot less successful in the post-COVID period. I believe that firmly.
I’ve missed your articles Bob! I hope you and your family are staying safe. I would love to hear your take on how riding out this virus in Indiana vs The Philippines would have been different or maybe similar? Thanks for your stories and insight!
Hi Michael – Thanks for your kind words. We are all doing well here, I hope you are as well.
I’ve been thinking of writing more articles, and especially about COVID. COVID is such a huge part of all of our lives right now, it might make some interesting reading.
Sounds like time for a course showing how it’s done.
That is something that I am already working on .
Hi Bob,
I see one of your advertisers is Mountain 2 Sea (M2S) Bikes. I can personally attest to their product. I have one of their high end electric bikes. It is a blast. I can’t wait to ship it to Bayawan City and ride it along the Boulevard there.
Regards,
Antony Keller
I’m glad to hear that, tony. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
I think the reason things can be made cheaply here in the USA is because of automation and lower transportation costs.
I have always felt conflicted about products made in China due to their atrocious human rights violations and the way they use the revenue to bully their neighbors.
I am very happy to see more products being made in the USA now.
It seems that we are 100% in sync when it comes to the Chinese, or other foreign-made products. I would like to see a lot more things coming back to the USA for production, I think that’s what we need.