Channel Mastery - Ep. 6: Elaine Kwon Co-Founder of Kwontified

 

“That's one of the great things about (Amazon): it can have such a huge selection available to consumers. But as a brand, it means that you have to be actively managing and very aware of who else might be selling your brand.”

- Elaine Kwon

EPISODE PREVIEW:

For many brands, the concept of selling on Amazon is as overwhelming as the idea of being dropped in the middle of the Amazon rain forest with nothing but a dull pocketknife and some beef jerky. In this episode, Elaine Kwon – herself a former Amazon employee – is the experienced, machete-wielding guide who speaks the insider language and knows the most direct path to the destination.Listen in to learn what to look out for, how to prepare for opening Amazon as a sales channel, and how to manage your account once your brand is sold through the website. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but Elaine’s expertise helps ease an otherwise intimidating process.

GUEST PROFILES:

ELAINE KWON

As co-founder and partner of Kwontified, and a former Amazon product and vendor manager, Elaine Kwon leverages her e-commerce, product operations and supply chain experience – plus intimate knowledge of the Amazon Marketplace – to help beauty, lifestyle and fashion brands navigate today’s evolving retail climate and achieve sales growth.Kwontified is a data-driven e-commerce management and SaaS firm empowering established brands with the inside knowledge they need to succeed on Amazon and other digital marketplaces. Kwontified focuses solely on the luxury beauty, fashion and lifestyle segments and provides white-glove management service and a proprietary SaaS offering.Elaine is recognized as an expert in e-commerce by leading consumer, business and retail media publications, as well as luxury and lifestyle brand managers.

SELECT QUOTES:

(On being surprised that Nike is selling via Amazon wholesale) “Selling wholesale to Amazon does relinquish autonomy over pricing. For many brands, especially within these industries, control over pricing is such a fundamental part of not only maintaining your brand equity, but cultivating it and growing it. If you are trying to grow your brand, (and enforce an) SMRP, then relinquishing even a small part of that autonomy can be dangerous.”

“That's one of the great things about (Amazon): it can have such a huge selection available to consumers. But as a brand, it means that you have to be actively managing and very aware of who else might be selling your brand.”

(On best practices, paraphrased) There are some consistent arenas that every brand on every product page should be aware of: your brand name, price control and imagery.

“Customer reviews are your best friend.”

“Use your social media. I cannot express it enough. In order to not have to compete price-wise with all the other products in your category, the best way to really build your business, not just on Amazon but anywhere online in general, is to build your own following online.”

“Once you have that (established brand) personality and you start building external buzz - whether it's through Instagram, any kind of social media, or even PR - you'd be amazed at the uptick you'll see on your platform like Amazon.”

“One of the scariest things I think I've seen is the lack of education around all the changes that are happening.”

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Podcast, Channel Mastery