Today we have with us Paul Retherford who is ScanPower co-founder and managing director. He is sharing with us some great insights about how important is to build your business with relationships.
What a difference six years makes! In 2010, when ScanPower first offered our listing and sourcing solutions to FBA sellers, the challenges of starting and running an Amazon e-commerce business were much greater than they are today – with a few exceptions:
1) You still need capital to fund your startup and operating costs, especially for inventory purchases.
2) Finding profitable sources of inventory can be challenging if you don’t have access to quality retail or wholesale suppliers.
3) Building long term relationships with suppliers takes time!
888LOTS is helping to change this, especially 2) and 3) by making profitable Amazon inventory available to sellers large and small at wholesale or less than wholesale prices. How much time have you spent contacting suppliers, trying to figure out what you can buy, and which items will be profitable for you? It adds up to hours and hours and can be seriously frustrating:
- Am I getting the best prices with the supplier?
- Which items can be sold on Amazon?
- Which items can be sent to FBA?
- Can I efficiently go through a catalog with 1000s of items and find the gems?
This is why ScanPower is excited to partner with 888LOTS to make it painless for you to find profitable inventory. Answer all of those questions in minutes rather than hours!
Together, we have integrated our Evaluate tool for bulk sourcing with the 888LOTS site. When you find a lot that matches your target categories, quantity and price, simply click on the FB8 PROFIT CALCULATOR button.
Within minutes the Evaluate output will arrive in your Inbox as a spreadsheet with the details you need to make a buying decision. You can sort and filter the output by important metrics such as best sellers rank, whether Amazon is selling, what the net payout will be, and other critical information you use to make buying decisions.
I’ll be posting more about this great 888LOTS feature in the coming weeks. There’s so much opportunity for sellers to discover and vet inventory before purchasing. I know Albert and his team will be adding even more value, such as the ability to prep and ship purchased lots to Amazon FBA for you.
I can’t stress enough the importance of building business relationships. They are the glue for your business and processes and ultimately what leads to profitability. Having a strong relationship with your software provider and your inventory supplier means you know each other’s needs and are willing to go the extra mile for them.
At ScanPower we have created 100s of new features for our customers. We often do this for no additional fee knowing that if we help them build a stronger business, they will continually get more value from our relationship.
Building business relationships should be the #1 priority for online sellers.
Paul Retherford is ScanPower co-founder and managing director.
He begins every day answering questions from ScanPower sellers and believes software can bind businesses processes together rather than forcing them on sellers. He lives in Southern Maine with his wife and two kids and enjoys sailing and skiing.
