#31 Deividas & Kris – Building an eCommerce Brand From Scratch, Importance of Proper Workflow, and the Structure for Success

Available on platforms



Share Podcast

Deividas and Kris are back at it again. This time, they come around to discuss how to start a brand new eCommerce brand from scratch, the importance of a proper workflow, and how to plan for success.

As Deividas and Kris are starting 2 of their own internal eCommerce businesses, with Kris spearheading one of the teams, they discuss the processes behind the business.

First, Kris explains her new contextual process for finding the winning product.

The process goes something like this:

She would research different products that are scaling or have done high volumes.

Then, she’d look for keywords related to the niche to find products with high engagement (e.g. more than 1,000 shares).

After that, she’d check Aliexpress to see the dropshipping price and compare it to the retail price and note down the Aliexpress COGS (Cost of Goods Sold).

If it’s worth pursuing, the next thing she would look into is the capability of re-skinning the product.

Ideally, the winning product would have less than 25% COGS, $60+ AOV (Average Order Value), and the capability to be re-skinned.

If that’s the case, Kris explains that she would capitalize on marketing the product and test-run the ads (e.g. with $500 ad budget). Then, she’d move the product into private-labeling and out-market the competition.

In the 6 months of private-labeling it, Kris explains that she would try to really understand the customers, find the missing gap in the market, and then develop the innovative product.

The whole process would take around 6-8 weeks process until they’d get ready to sell the product via private-labeling.

Kris explains the importance of strong indicators and how to minimize risks as much as possible throughout the whole journey. She says some mistakes might come up somewhere along the supply chain, but at this point, she knows what to look out for and how to minimize them.

Deividas then asks about influencer marketing and how she’d involve that during the process of growing an eCommerce brand.

To that, Kris says that she’d involved influencers for creatives early on, and explains her method for delegating and leading the team.

The most important part? Hitting the KPIs!

Kris once again stresses the importance of a proper workflow, and how it might be better to outsource certain tasks to save your own time.

Deividas agrees and adds how quickly everything can become overwhelming. At this point, he explains that he is in a position of being extremely reactive to everything around him.

Along the entrepreneurial journey, you’re going to encounter speed bumps here and there. But what’s important is that the dips aren’t long-term.

Kris brings an example of one business that managed to survive simply by having a ~50% retention rate. Sometimes, having a sustainable business comes down to having the right product, and the right retention rate.

Deividas adds that in the health and beauty industries, in particular, retention rates are higher than average. There’s always a constant pain point and demand within those niches too.

For businesses looking to boost their retention rates, Kris says that email marketing, in particular, can be an extremely powerful way to boost the rate. You can go up to a 20% retention rate using email marketing alone, and you can go even higher, up to 50-60%+ by building and growing your community, adds Deividas.

They move on to discuss positioning and branding as solutions to stand out in a sea of competition.

Kris brings up 2 companies in particular who manage to do that well due to their branding – Ritual and Oatly.

Deividas agrees that companies need to develop their brand in the sense of a character that’s relatable to the audience. A character businesses have to build from scratch if they want to stand out.

Finally, they discuss the importance of team structures when you’re just starting an eCommerce business. Kris explains how lucky she is to have a kick-ass team that can do it all and describes the team structure she created initially in detail.

Here’s what we cover during episode 31:

Secrets of starting a new eCommerce business
Kris’ contextual and personal process to growing a new brand from the ground up
What to look for in a winning product
Kris breaks down the process step-by-step
When does influencer marketing come into play?
Hitting KPIs and knowing what to focus on
Execution, directions, and a strong workflow
Delegate vs DIY / time-management
What do you do when your account starts to go down for reasons outside your control?
Deividas on passing speed bumps along the entrepreneurial journey
How to survive the dips as a business (hint: something to do with the retention rate)
What do the health and beauty industries have in common?
Consumerism, structures, and hypnosis
The one underrated marketing channel to boost customer retention rate
Differentiating from competitors
How to use positioning to stand out from your competitors
What Deividas suggests to companies building their brand from scratch
Kris breaks down the team structure and roles in detail she can take to $1MM in revenue
Keep an eye out for these Sugatan super high-value content