Market Research Plan – Jason Boyce
market research plan
SUMMARY
Before, big companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble would spend millions of dollars on consumer market research plan. In today’s era, we can know what the market needs and wants by going online and Amazon is an incredible tool for that.
On this episode, we’re here with Jason Boyce. He is a former marine and he is one of the co-founders of Dazadi. Jason has also worked as an Account Executive at Johnson & Johnson. His companies are known to make millions and millions every year.
Jason talks about how his company started in Amazon and shares how they utilized the information that’s already available online to grow their business.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Selling other people’s stuff on Amazon is not a strong long-lasting business strategy unless you can get vendors to give you your own unique UPC to sell on Amazon.
Only launch on Amazon if you have your own private label product.
Amazon tells you exactly what the bestseller products are in a given category or sub-category.
After knowing what the bestselling products are, ask yourself if it is something you can make or something you can make better and cooler at a better price point.
Have a conversation with the customers. Check the product reviews and see what people like and dislike about a product.
Develop your own product that meets some unfulfilled need in the marketplace.
TRANSCRIPTION: MARKET RESEARCH PLAN – JASON BOYCE
Luis Congdon
Hey, Thriving Launchers, if you’ve ever thought about selling on Amazon or thinking about selling a product and haven’t developed it yet, this episode is for you.
Today’s guest is a former marine and he is one of the co-founders of dazadi.com. Jason has also worked as an Account Executive at Johnson & Johnson. His companies are known to make millions and millions every year. He is the acting CEO of various companies and he joins us today to talk about how to use amazon to increase sales and how to do an incredible market research plan for your business.
Hey, Thriving Launchers, we are here with Jason.
Jason, we’re excited to have you here. Are you ready to launch?
Jason Boyce
Yes, I am. Thanks for having me.
Luis Congdon
So the landscape of Amazon is changing and there have been some shifts and Amazon is an incredible tool to be using for sales. We’ve done some incredible interviews with some people who are just making a killing with Amazon with a market research plan. I mean they did it at a place that anybody in business who is selling a product or a book, should be there.
I’m curious from you, Jason, what got you interested in amazon to begin with? Why is this a hop place for people to be at?
Jason Boyce
That’s a great question and you’re absolutely right.
Market Research Plan – Amazon As A Disruptor And A Retail Channel
Jason Boyce
I don’t think the world has ever seen anything quite like Amazon both as a disruptor and also as a retail channel.
We have been selling on Amazon for a very long time. In fact, we’ve got a phone call, if you can imagine that from Amazon, I think it was in 2003 or 2004. At that time, we were drop shipping basketball hoops and they asked us if we would be willing to sell or offer for sale our basketball hoops on Amazon. This is a true story.
We were actually selling basketball hoops on Amazon before they were when they called us. This is so long ago. They were just a bookseller and selling CDs and DVDs so that’s how long ago we started with them.
Tremendous Potential On Amazon Especially With A Market Research Plan
Jason Boyce
We recognized right away that there was tremendous potential long before most that everyone understands it now. There are some projections out there that are projecting that Amazon will own at least half of the online market share in the United States by the end of this year. That’s just a staggering number because these guys were selling books when we started with them.
We have been on there for a very long time. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that’s been selling on Amazon as long as we have and is still doing it but we have just gone through numerous changes, updates, business shifts, and strategic inflection points, and have implemented various market research plan as a result of things that Amazon has done.
Amazon has become sort of the largest part of our business today.
Kamala Chambers
I really would love to hear from you what are most fundamental and important things to know about market research plan when selling on amazon.
Jason Boyce
Well, we don’t have time in this podcast to cover everything but let me see if I can highlight a few things.
Market Research Plan – Create Private Label Products
Jason Boyce
When we first started in 2004 selling basketball hoops on amazon, none of those hoops were our own. In other words, it wasn’t our own private label. Now, a majority of our sales are our own private label.
Why is that important?
So we believe over here at Dazadi that because of the changes to the buy box algorithm on Amazon which is, for listeners who don’t know, if you sell the same product, let’s say Brand X and then your competitors also sell Brand X and that same product with the same UPC code, amazon’s listing technology combines all of the sellers into one listing.
You may not recognize this when you go and buy but there’s a box on the product details page on amazon where we can click and see other sellers. Sometimes, for a given UPC code that’s being listed on Amazon, you can see three or 300 hundred sellers. That’s how we started.
Have A Market Research Plan To Increase Your Margins
Jason Boyce
We were just doing a listing, selling the same UPC code as a handful of other sellers or retailers and what happened over time from 2004 to today, there’s just an incredible downward pressure on the retail prices that every year your margins would shrink.
Ultimately, the margins got so small by selling other people’s things that a couple of years ago, we went all in with a strategy of identifying both sourcing exclusive products so we on the UPC code, we don’t have to compete in the buy box with Amazon but also developing our own private label line.
Market Research Plan – Research and Iterate To Make Great Products
Kamala Chambers
Yeah, it sure does.
What I’d love to know is what some of the pitfalls are on market research plan people might want to avoid when they’re starting to sell on Amazon or if they’ve been doing it for a while.
Jason Boyce
We have a brand called Harvil and that’s now, the majority it’s our biggest vendors our own private label brand and we researched, designed, developed, land, launched, learned, and iterate to make great products.
That really in my mind is the future of selling on Amazon and for your listeners who are thinking about selling other people’s stuff on amazon, I don’t think that that is going to last. I don’t think it’s a strong long-lasting business strategy and market research plan unless you can get vendors to give you your own unique exclusive UPC to sell on amazon or you’ve got your own private label that you’re developing.
Does that answer your question?
Market Research Plan – Pitfalls To Avoid When Selling On Amazon
Jason Boyce
If they’re just starting to sell on Amazon, I frankly wouldn’t waste my time with other people’s products. I would only launch on Amazon if I had my own private label product. You can start with one skew. We’ve got some individual skews that do over a million dollars a year, just one product on Amazon.
You can really do well for yourself if you pick the right item. You can pick the right item by going and looking on Amazon.
Market Research Plan – Check What The Bestselling Products Are
Jason Boyce
Amazon unlike a lot of the other online marketplaces that we sell on, gives you what the sales rank is for a given skew, and they do it right on their website.
You can go to bestselling. It takes a few clicks. When you go to a product details page, if you scroll down, you’ll see that there’s a ranking number associated with where that product ranks in a given category. If you click on some of those links, it will take you to a bestsellers page and then it will tell you exactly what the bestseller in a given category or subcategory is.
Market Research Plan – Ask Yourself If You Can Create A Bestseller Product And Make It Better
Jason Boyce
Then, you could take a look at that product and determine “Is this something I can make? Is this something I can make better and cooler at a better price point?”
You can use that sort of available intelligence to come out of the gate with a new private label product that you know potentially will do well.
I think that if you’re re-selling other people’s products on Amazon, you’re just not going to be around in two to three years.
Market Research Plan – Make Use Of The Available Intelligence To Create A Private Label Product
Jason Boyce
I feel strongly about that which is why we’ve put so many resources into developing our own private label brand. It’s just the best thing ever happened to us into our Amazon business.
Luis Congdon
Thriving Launchers, whether or not you’re in the Amazon space, Jason is bringing up some incredible points in regards to market research plan and researching what sells in your market and sells in your niche, and asking yourself some really fundamental questions.
Market Research Plan – Ask Yourself Some Fundamental Questions
Luis Congdon
What is it that these guys are doing well? What is it that they’re not doing well? Where can I add my own little spin? How’s their marketing? How could I market in a different way but sell the same product or service?
There are hundreds and thousands of life coaches or health coaches, podcasts, programs, digital programs out there. In almost any market you go to, if you’re not doing your research, then it’s going to be very hard for you to understand what makes you stand out.
Market Research Plan – Advantage of Having Your Own Product
Luis Congdon
One of the things Jason too that you’ve mentioned that really is reminiscent of when we had Ryan Daniel Moran on our show, is he said that that’s when he really started to make lot of profits through Amazon and with an effective market research plan. It was when they developed their own yoga mat and it became their mat that was licensed under their brand and they had an exclusive right to it. That’s really where the profit is. Isn’t it?
You own the products so you can price it with what you want and you can be the owner of it.
Jason Boyce
Yeah, 100%.
I’ve said this at a couple of speaking engagements in the past.
Be The Next Unilever Or Procter & Gamble With A Market Research Plan
Jason Boyce
The game has changed in terms of product development. I believe this very strongly.
Jason Boyce
Why is that?
Market Research Plan – Have A Conversation With The Customer
Jason Boyce
It goes back to what I was just saying previously and what you just mentioned, Luis, is that you have to have a conversation with the customer.
The old way of developing a product, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble would spend a million dollars on someone’s bright idea or they would spend a fortune on consumer market research plan but it was all third parties. They never really had a conversation with a customer.
Going on amazon and seeing what the bestsellers are on an Amazon product details page, you can see the product reviews. You can read what customers like about the product, what they don’t like about the product. You can even see in the questions and answers section in a given product details page the conversation that has happened between people who have bought the product and potential customers.
Market Research Plan – Fix The Problems That A Good Selling Product Have
Jason Boyce
So you can take that information, study it, and ask yourself “Can I fix the problems that exist on this good selling product that already exists in the marketplace?”
If the answer is yes, and you can design, develop, land the product, and service the customer as a sort of unfulfilled need, then you can commend a higher retail price and a higher margin.
If you can make it look cooler than compared to the rest, then you can commend an even higher margin on that.
Market Research Plan – Develop New Products In A Less Expensive Way
Jason Boyce
So the simple answer to your question, Luis, is yes. The game of developing products has changed. There is a wealth of available information that’s out there both on Amazon, social media, etc., that allows a smarter, less expensive way to develop and create new products.
Jason Boyce
I think that’s the only way moving forward on Amazon, Instagram, Facebook, driving traffic and that way.
You’ve got to start with your own product that meets some unfulfilled need in the marketplace.
All that information is available.
Kamala Chambers
That’s great. What an amazing tool and market research plan that we have with this if we’re trying to sell physical products.
One thing that I would love to hear from you before we go, what is the one big takeaway that you want people to walk away with that you haven’t already mentioned, just a really important point from all your years in experience that you want to leave the Thriving Launchers with?
Jason Boyce
Oh, good question.
Don’t Give Up Even Your Market Research Plan Fails
Jason Boyce
Don’t give up. If you have some success, don’t rest on your laurels. Start asking yourself the question “What can go wrong?” because likely, you’ll figure it out and it will go wrong.
If you launch something and it’s a failure, it’s only a failure if you quit. Keep working on it and keep iterating on it.
We have a process called Launch & Learn. We get a product development based on the available information, we land it knowing that it’s going to be better than what is in the marketplace but we also understand that there’s a process of learning about our products that we will gain through communication with the customers.
Market Research Plan – Keep Iterating On Your Product
H2
Jason Boyce
This world in terms of product development is not about launching the perfect product from the gate. It’s about iteration.
It’s just unrealistic. There’s no such thing as perfect and give yourself a break if it’s not perfect when you launch. Just learn from it and you will succeed.
Luis Congdon
That’s awesome feedback.
Thriving Launchers, we’ve been here with Jason.
Market Research Plan – Look At Amazon To Help You Develop Your Product
Luis Congdon
One of the things too that I want to add here is even if you’re not selling on Amazon, but you want to sell a book or you want to sell something, you can always go into Amazon and look for products, books, that are within the vicinity of what you’re up to.
Let’s say if you want to develop a podcasting course, you might type in “podcasting” and find some books on podcasting and then look at the two and three star reviews to find out what people complains are and that would help you develop your product or your digital product, or your book. That’s another market research plan.
Jason was really just queuing us into getting feedback from the market and now in this new era, we don’t have to spend millions of dollars to have some big firm go and do the research for us. We can do it all in house by going online and Amazon is an incredible tool for that.
Whatever you got out of today’s episode on market research plan, Thriving Launchers, go out there, keep thriving, and take action, and get your business thriving. Until the next episode, keep thriving you all.
