Well, hello, I'm Matt Edmundson and you are listening to
Speaker:the E commerce podcast. You know what? Since 2002, really long
Speaker:time, I've been building, selling and yes, occasionally failing
Speaker:at online business. I love creating unique equity partnerships
Speaker:with e commerce brands and helping them grow from where they
Speaker:are to where they want to be. That's what I do now on a day to
Speaker:day basis. So I want to learn about e commerce as much as you and
Speaker:to do that every week I get to chat with great guests just like
Speaker:Omer. I'm a to have you on the show, man. Tell us a little bit about
Speaker:yourself, where you're from, what you do and all that good stuff.
Speaker:Thank you for having me. My name is Omer, originally from Israel,
Speaker:and for the past decade I'm in Asia. I cannot believe I'm saying
Speaker:a decade. I sound so old.
Speaker:You sound old. I've been doing e Commerce since 2002. That makes
Speaker:me feel really old.
Speaker:Yeah, it's older, I have to say.
Speaker:Brilliant. So yeah, for the past decade you've been living in
Speaker:Asia.
Speaker:So it started by traveling and long story short, I help brands to
Speaker:source profitable products from Asia, China, Vietnam, India,
Speaker:Japan and many other countries. We help in all the process
Speaker:of supplier finding, sourcing, quality control. Yeah.
Speaker:Wow, that sounds like fun. I mean, how, if I can ask, how old
Speaker:were you when you started traveling to Asia? Did you sort of
Speaker:have the travel bug, sort of fresh out of uni and then you just
Speaker:kind of got caught in it?
Speaker:So I've never been in university beside learning Chinese
Speaker:in the university in China, but I was, I think I was 23 years
Speaker:old, I'm not sure. And I've been backpacking in Asia and actually
Speaker:when I came back to Israel to prepare for university, I decided
Speaker:I want to go to China to learn Chinese. And after a year in China,
Speaker:before I, before I was supposed to come back to Israel to
Speaker:university, I've. I've been thinking, wait, if I'm already in
Speaker:China and I know to speak Chinese, do I really need to go back
Speaker:to university? Or maybe I can just start, you know, grinding and.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Wow, fantastic. I don't come across many people who deliberately
Speaker:and intentionally learn to speak Chinese. That's quite a unique
Speaker:form of grit. I have a very good friend of mine, she's like my
Speaker:adopted sister. She's lovely, she's British, but she's also Chinese
Speaker:and she tries to teach me Chinese and I fail miserably. So
Speaker:the fact that you have done that, I think is remarkable. Good
Speaker:on you for doing that.
Speaker:Yeah, well, the reason I studied Chinese, so I was thinking,
Speaker:should I go to learn Chinese or Japanese? And Japan sounds very
Speaker:expensive. So eventually I decided to go with China. Yeah. And
Speaker:by the way, I was one of the worst student in the class back then.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But I think I'm the only one in from my class back then that's
Speaker:still actually doing business in China. I guess it's all about
Speaker:practicing.
Speaker:Yeah, I guess it is. I guess it is, because I. And this is where
Speaker:I think, you know, when it comes to sourcing products from China
Speaker:Freecom businesses, I know a few people that seem to have cracked
Speaker:it in whatever business they're in. But I know that it still
Speaker:scares a whole bunch of people because it's not just the language,
Speaker:it's the culture barrier that exist between obviously the west
Speaker:and the east, between Asia and between, you know, the sort of America's,
Speaker:Britain's, Australia's type. I mean, Australia and New Zealand are
Speaker:a little bit unique, aren't they? Because I suppose they're quite
Speaker:close to Asia. So I think they've understood the culture of
Speaker:dealing with Asia a lot more. What are some of the things that
Speaker:you find are quite consistently bad from Western companies
Speaker:when it comes to understanding Asian culture and get in our heads
Speaker:around a few key principles before we start trying to source
Speaker:products from there.
Speaker:So I guess the worst thing that Western people do is thinking
Speaker:like Western, you know, so they approach to a Chinese person
Speaker:or Japanese or whatever. And, and they think that whatever they
Speaker:will say, the Chinese person will understand it as they would
Speaker:understand it not not only in like the language, I mean, the meaning,
Speaker:the subtext. And so this is, I guess the biggest mistake. And, and
Speaker:because I don't think I can teach someone in one hour or even
Speaker:one year how to think like a Chinese or Japanese or whatever.
Speaker:Probably the biggest tip I can give is assume they don't understand
Speaker:you and you don't understand them. And if this will be your assumption,
Speaker:you will probably avoid most of the misunderstanding.
Speaker:Okay, yeah, it sounds remarkably straightforward, Omer,
Speaker:but I get why you would say that, because I think certainly in
Speaker:Britain, you know, if we, a general response is if you don't
Speaker:understand, we'll say the same thing slower and louder because surely
Speaker:then you'll understand. If I say the same thing slower and louder,
Speaker:you will understand, which is obviously not the true. And I think
Speaker:there's, there's a lot to be said for this cross cultural understanding,
Speaker:which I think you, you miss a lot of the subtleties of how is,
Speaker:how is it at the moment in terms of trading with Asia? I'm kind
Speaker:of curious about this because at the time of recording we've had,
Speaker:you know, the announcement from the Trump administration about
Speaker:tariffs and we can, you know, political politics aside, I, you
Speaker:know, there's obviously some issue with international trading
Speaker:in the States. What's the sort of thinking there, you know, in Asia
Speaker:with the, with the tariffs And I guess more importantly, if I can
Speaker:ask you, what are the opportunities there for us as e commerce
Speaker:entrepreneurs to be thinking about?
Speaker:Right. So like you said, politics aside, it's going to affect
Speaker:a lot of businesses and you say Asia but like to be honest, it's
Speaker:mostly going to impact people that source from China. Not in Asia,
Speaker:not from Asia in general. And I've been lucky because during COVID
Speaker:few years back when China, you know, like in one day everything
Speaker:got locked, locked down like the factories and everything. And
Speaker:back then I, I remember I got a little bit scared because my old
Speaker:business was based on China. And back then I decided I'm going
Speaker:to start learning how to do sourcing from outside of China. Though
Speaker:it's little bit complex because before this I was living
Speaker:in China for a few years. I was speaking Chinese and new countries
Speaker:is totally new things. But back then I decided I'm going to
Speaker:do this. And now when this whole tariff thing came up for me,
Speaker:it's actually a big opportunity because I'm, for the
Speaker:past few years I'm traveling around Japan, Vietnam and other countries
Speaker:and I know how to source from all of these kind of countries. So
Speaker:for me it's a big opportunity because all of the customers that
Speaker:source from China and suddenly got scared and they're looking for
Speaker:suppliers outside. I can provide it. So for me it's a good
Speaker:opportunity and I guess that anyone that, that is ready to explore
Speaker:new country might find some good opportunities in there. But
Speaker:it's also important not to, you know how to say it, not to do
Speaker:your next step out of panic because during COVID many, many companies
Speaker:try to find quickly suppliers outside of China. And then when Vietnam
Speaker:got locked down China, the Chinese factories were opening. So
Speaker:we also need to remember that in many cases China are still going
Speaker:to be the best option. Okay. So like don't force yourself to find
Speaker:suppliers outside of China, but you do need to explore maybe
Speaker:the product I'm making in China, I can make it outside of China
Speaker:better or cheaper or more unique. And if so, you definitely
Speaker:have to go and look for this opportunity because you can Save
Speaker:money and you can be the competition. It's really interesting
Speaker:just to understand like if now menu making the same product in China
Speaker:and selling it in the USA and I was quick enough to find a supplier
Speaker:in India that can make the same product in a, in a cheaper price
Speaker:and we both sent to the USA and I don't have the tariff, I'm
Speaker:going to earn and make more money than you on the same product.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's interesting you say that because
Speaker:years ago, I'm going back 2000, 2006, we had a business that
Speaker:sold from a place called Jersey. Now, Jersey to the Brits
Speaker:is a small island off the north coast of France. Okay. It's
Speaker:kind of, it's independently British is the best way. Now, how
Speaker:to describe Jersey? So Jersey wasn't necessarily subject to the
Speaker:tax rules that the UK was. And at the time, it's different now,
Speaker:but at the time there was a VATS advantage. So VAT is sales tax.
Speaker:So when you shipped products from Jersey with a value, I think
Speaker:it was less than £20 from memory. If you shipped goods less
Speaker:than £20 from Jersey to the UK, you didn't have to charge the
Speaker:customer VAT. Okay. Now, bearing in mind our sales tax is
Speaker:20%. So still more than the tariffs. Well, maybe about the same
Speaker:as the tariffs Trump will put on Chinese products. But we had this
Speaker:tax that we didn't have to pay shipping from Jersey that somebody
Speaker:from the UK did have, if that makes sense. So we could be 20% cheaper
Speaker:than our competitors and still make the same profit. And so for,
Speaker:I think it was probably for about three or four years, maybe
Speaker:not that long. Maybe, maybe about three or four years, we took
Speaker:a, we were able to take advantage of this tax differential
Speaker:and it helped us become much more profitable than our competitors
Speaker:because we either sold at the same price, made more profit, or
Speaker:we sold at a cheaper price, still probably made more profit,
Speaker:but was still cheaper than our competitors. I mean, ethics aside
Speaker:about, you know, is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's just
Speaker:a thing in the free market economy. And I kind of feel now with
Speaker:the tariff situation that Trump is introducing, there is what
Speaker:I would call a Jersey moment, whereby if, like you say, if you
Speaker:can source products, the same product, the same quality, etcetera,
Speaker:but somehow ship that in effect tariff free, you can take
Speaker:advantage of that. And we created a business of rapid growth
Speaker:during those years that I don't think we would have been able
Speaker:to do had we have not had that advantage.
Speaker:Right. So it's definitely an opportunity. But like I said before
Speaker:and they want to say again, I don't tell people don't buy from
Speaker:China now because of the tariff. There are many products.
Speaker:I think most of the products China probably is still going to
Speaker:be the most attractive in term of variety and pricing and how quickly
Speaker:they can make the product. So just to understand, right now I'm
Speaker:making products in Japan. I'm in Japan at the moment. The lead
Speaker:time to make product is six months. In China, it would be probably
Speaker:45 days. So it's not like go away from China. No, it's nothing
Speaker:like this. And I think if, if you still need to look at the numbers.
Speaker:Okay. And again, in many cases you will find out China is more attractive
Speaker:even with the tariff. Even if the, if Trump will increase the tariff
Speaker:again, China will still be attractive. But I do think it's a
Speaker:good opportunity for brands to explore countries beside China. Again,
Speaker:not just because of the tariffs. The tariff should be the
Speaker:opportunity. There are different qualities, more unique
Speaker:products, maybe customization you can do. So I do think everyone
Speaker:should explore it, assuming you see yourself in the game for
Speaker:long term, you know, just for a few months. Because it's a process
Speaker:that take time.
Speaker:Yeah, that's true. That's. It's very sage advice, isn't it?
Speaker:Because, and I love what you said here about learning from COVID
Speaker:You know, everybody panicked during COVID and you know, so they
Speaker:went to Vietnam. Vietnam then shut down. And I can see a similar
Speaker:sort of thing going on here whereby everyone leaves China to
Speaker:go to Vietnam and then Trump interposes par tariffs on from Vietnam.
Speaker:You know, he'll just sort of goes from one place. You just don't
Speaker:know what's going to happen, do you? And so I like that. I mean,
Speaker:we, the fact that we have that whole thing in quite recent living
Speaker:memory with COVID means that we should definitely, you know, remember
Speaker:that and learn from that. Which, which, which makes a lot of
Speaker:sense. Makes a lot of sense. Omerr. Before we carry on, let me
Speaker:just take a brief second, everybody listening to the show to
Speaker:talk to you about something that is happening in both Australia
Speaker:and New Zealand right now. We have, we have something called Cohort.
Speaker:You may have heard me talk about this on the show before. Cohort
Speaker:used to be a paid membership program. It's now, we don't charge
Speaker:for it. It's just a, it's not even a membership. It's just like
Speaker:a community, a group. And we are launching Cohort in Australia.
Speaker:So if you're in the Australia, New Zealand part of the world and
Speaker:would like to come and meet fellow e commerce entrepreneurs.
Speaker:We just connect once a month online via Zoom and just chat. How
Speaker:is it going? How's E commerce, what we all learned and share some
Speaker:insights and stories. We would love to welcome you to that. Just
Speaker:reach out to me@ecommercepodcast.net or just reach
Speaker:out to me on LinkedIn. Go find me on LinkedIn @edmondson and I will
Speaker:share with you the details. We would love to see you in that. So
Speaker:yeah, do come and join us in that. Do you get to Australia much
Speaker:Omerr? New Zealand or is it just you stay Japan, China, that
Speaker:sort of belt.
Speaker:So yeah, I've been in the past because I have some customers in
Speaker:there. Actually I'm going to the UK once in a while. I have customers
Speaker:in there also but for the past I think it's almost 15 months, 16
Speaker:months, I'm not sure. I've been only in Asia, like I didn't
Speaker:have time to go anywhere else.
Speaker:Oh wow. Wow. Beautiful, beautiful people, beautiful food
Speaker:in a beautiful part of the world.
Speaker:Beautiful food, yeah, good food. This is the important part.
Speaker:This is why I do this business, you know. Well, one long
Speaker:time ago I had a friend that told me the reason you do business
Speaker:in China is to finance your trips to Japan. And it's true. So
Speaker:now, now I, I've been upgraded and now I also do business in Japan.
Speaker:So I can food in Japan.
Speaker:Fantastic. On that topic, you know, of the multiple different countries
Speaker:in Asia and Japan is still on my bucket list. I'm not going to
Speaker:lie. I've not managed to make it yet. But I, I've been to Malaysia,
Speaker:I've been to Singapore, I've done a whole bunch of them. I've
Speaker:not actually made it as far as Japan, but I will be there at some
Speaker:point. The default thinking is still, I think for a lot of e commerce
Speaker:entrepreneurs I need a product, I need it cheaper. So therefore
Speaker:I need to source it from China. And like you said, most of
Speaker:the time that makes a lot of sense. What are some of the countries
Speaker:that people aren't thinking about that maybe we should, you know,
Speaker:should we be thinking about say Thailand or Vietnam? If it's
Speaker:clothing, should. Where are some of the other sort of the good
Speaker:places to go to in Asia that we're perhaps not thinking about?
Speaker:So I'll give a quick brief for some of the main countries. Okay,
Speaker:so I will start with Japan and Japan is not going to be cheap at
Speaker:any Rate. But in Japan, you might be able to make unique products
Speaker:that no other country can make. And to me, with my experience,
Speaker:I think that making a unique and good product can be sometimes
Speaker:much more valuable than making cheaper product. So this is for Japan.
Speaker:Korea is a cosmetics empire. So if you want to make a good cosmetic
Speaker:brand, it's the right place. Yeah. Vietnam textile, plastic, some
Speaker:metals and wood and bamboo. But Vietnam is a place for mass production.
Speaker:So many products in China you need MOQ of 1,000 pieces minimum.
Speaker:Other quantity in Vietnam, you're gonna need 5,000 pieces.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Thailand, I have to say, and I've been in many factories in Thailand,
Speaker:they can do some textile and stuff. But I still couldn't find
Speaker:any, like, actual advantage in making products in Thailand because
Speaker:every time when I compared it in China, China was better.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And India, it's definitely something people should look at a
Speaker:wood product, electronics and other products. But again, each country
Speaker:like this come with a whole lot of business culture and things
Speaker:that are different from China. So just for example, production time
Speaker:in India, it's kind of like they are giving you the time and
Speaker:you hope it's going to be anywhere around this time. This is
Speaker:just for example. So each country have some advantages and
Speaker:opportunities and unique products. But I know I'm repeating
Speaker:because I think it's the most important part. Eventually people
Speaker:need to look for the best supplier that can provide the best
Speaker:product in the best price. I don't think you should be looking
Speaker:into a country, you should be looking into a supplier. And if you
Speaker:find a supplier in China or Vietnam or India, go for it.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah. No, again, sage advice. It's. It makes a lot of sense,
Speaker:doesn't it? But. And I can see why businesses like yours, I might
Speaker:do well, because I would look at that and I would go, I have no
Speaker:idea. I have no idea about the culture. I have no idea about the
Speaker:language. I don't know if I'm going to get ripped off. Like, am
Speaker:I just pouring money into a black hole? Will the quality of the
Speaker:product be good? I suppose one thing that I would, a big question
Speaker:I would have in my head about dealing with China and we do deal
Speaker:with Asia. I have to be honest with you. One of the big questions
Speaker:always in the back of my head is to do rightly or wrongly is the
Speaker:connection with child slave labor. Like, is there openness? Is
Speaker:there transparent? How do I know what's going on in that factory?
Speaker:How do I know they're not going to take my idea and copy it?
Speaker:So there's a lot of, there's a lot of hurdles I have to overcome
Speaker:before I think about getting manufacturing in China. Am I weird
Speaker:or is that true for a lot of people? Are they sort of similar
Speaker:barriers?
Speaker:I think everybody think about these things now. I guess for child
Speaker:abuse and slavery and stuff, it's very easy to check this stuff.
Speaker:Like you can do factory audit and very quickly you can know who
Speaker:is working in the factory, how many hours. And so there is a very
Speaker:quick and easy solution for this, for copying your ideas. I have
Speaker:to tell you that I think I stopped thinking about this long
Speaker:ago because I do sourcing. But many times I also develop the products
Speaker:and then suggest to my customers, which are companies and
Speaker:brands. And I have to tell you that this is something I learned
Speaker:actually from some big companies in the uk, very big ones,
Speaker:I cannot say their name, but they don't spend a moment about thinking
Speaker:if the Chinese supplier will copy them. They just keep innovating
Speaker:and thinking about the next product. And yes, sometimes the Chinese
Speaker:copy them. Yeah, it's happened. But you know, also your
Speaker:competitor can copy you. Right. So I don't think it's the
Speaker:right thing to spend time on will he copy me? And if it's really
Speaker:important for you, do the patent or trademark or whatever.
Speaker:But I believe that it's much better to, if you have an idea, find
Speaker:the best supplier, push the product to the market as fast as
Speaker:possible and hope that you will do good enough job, that even
Speaker:if somebody will copy you, everyone will feel he is the copy
Speaker:and you are the original.
Speaker:Yeah, well, again, wise advice. I think that's true for I
Speaker:think whether you order from China or whether you don't. Right.
Speaker:Your competitors in fact are going to be copying you and you've
Speaker:always got to think, push and innovate and so on and so forth.
Speaker:It makes a lot of sense to do that. And if you're not doing that,
Speaker:I think you've got some fundamental problems. Anyway, what
Speaker:products do you see working well at the moment? What products
Speaker:are coming out of Asia that actually starting to sell well online?
Speaker:Because I know fidget spinners don't have the kudos that they, they
Speaker:once had, for example. But what are some of the things that
Speaker:are working.
Speaker:Well? To me, I feel that because there are much more competition
Speaker:now compared to before. Like every year you have more and more
Speaker:E commerce sellers. Right. It doesn't matter on Amazon, Shopify,
Speaker:whatever platform it is, I feel you have to be. It's not about
Speaker:like what specific Products, you just have to be much more unique
Speaker:these days to succeed. Like unless you have a lot of money, you
Speaker:know, and you can really spend a lot on ads and then you don't have
Speaker:to be unique because you have eyeballs on your product, but you
Speaker:have, but if not, you need much better quality products or much
Speaker:cheaper or much cheaper price on the product. And both things are
Speaker:hard to get. Like if you, if every, if everybody got this, a certain
Speaker:price and you want to be able to sell it in much cheaper price
Speaker:and still to make money, it's going to be really hard to find the
Speaker:right supplier. And if you want to be able to make much more
Speaker:unique or special quality compared to other, it's also going
Speaker:to be very hard. So I feel the time you need to spend today on finding
Speaker:the right supplier and making the product in the right way, because
Speaker:it's not only finding the supplier. Like you can find many
Speaker:good supplier and they're going to make shitty quality. You
Speaker:need to know how to do the quality control and stuff. I think
Speaker:this is the way, I know it's not exactly what you asked, but this
Speaker:is the way to be different and succeed. Because I don't think I
Speaker:can point on a specific product and tell you, oh, now there
Speaker:is this kind of textile or this kind of watch that. Because
Speaker:every product that come out now with tick tock and everything,
Speaker:after three months you're gonna see it everywhere.
Speaker:Yep. Yeah, yeah. I love, I love this comment about, you know,
Speaker:make it unique. That really resonates in the sense that I, for
Speaker:a while, I don't see as much now, but for a while you came across
Speaker:people who would try and sell the same product everybody else was
Speaker:trying to sell out of China. Usually you go to some site like
Speaker:Temu or Aliexpress or something like that and you would
Speaker:buy a product, pick any random product, I don't know the plastic
Speaker:widgets, and you would go, well, they cost 10 cents to make
Speaker:and I can sell them for three bucks. Well, why would I not try
Speaker:and sell those? But there was nothing unique about the, either
Speaker:the product or the way that they were trying to sell it. And
Speaker:everything was bland. It was like they just gone and got the same
Speaker:template from Shopify and copied it like 10,000 other people
Speaker:did and just use the same text that 10,000 other people did. And
Speaker:there was nothing about them, there was nothing about their brand,
Speaker:their voice, you know, their uniqueness, like that type of thing.
Speaker:And it's interesting you say that because I think and it's not
Speaker:just with products from, from Asia. I think it's just with e commerce
Speaker:sites, full stop. There has to be something really unique about
Speaker:that that differentiates you from Amazon, that differentiates
Speaker:you from all the other commodities out there in, in the
Speaker:world. And that enables you to really stand out in the consumer's
Speaker:mind. And so it's interesting that you've, you've noticed that
Speaker:as well, you know, with products coming over from China.
Speaker:So it's not a definitive. Well, the fidget spinner has now
Speaker:been replaced by the spinning fidget. I don't know. But it's, it's
Speaker:more a case of actually whatever you do do something unique
Speaker:and I, I really like that. How can you make and I'm assuming on,
Speaker:on that then Omer that actually the factories in China,
Speaker:in Vietnam or wherever, they are quite keen to work with you to
Speaker:help you put your unique flavor and taste on it.
Speaker:So it depends because the Chinese, the Chinese, they just want
Speaker:to sell, they just want the cash and many times they will just
Speaker:put you oh, these products sell very good buy this. They just
Speaker:want the cash. Many times they don't think long term. This is specifically
Speaker:for the Chinese. So I think it's actually, I really think you
Speaker:need to understand it's your responsibility as a buyer to try
Speaker:to come up with the unique thing. Don't ask the supplier how
Speaker:can I make this more unique? And there are many people who ask
Speaker:this. I will even say more. If you go to one of the trade shows
Speaker:in China for example, and you will go to, you will ask the Chinese
Speaker:supplier, why should I buy from you? Most of them will give
Speaker:you the same answer because of our quality and price. Now most of
Speaker:them going to say the same thing. So you just understand all
Speaker:the pricing are the same, all the quality are the same. There is
Speaker:nothing unique about this. Like for me, for the brands I'm working
Speaker:with, our way to make it unique is really to take a product
Speaker:and existing product and develop a much better, better product.
Speaker:And when this is what you do and it takes a lot of time, it takes
Speaker:a lot of time. It takes time to find the right supplier. You need
Speaker:to make sample and again and again. But when you do it, you are
Speaker:really unique. And by the way, you don't need to be worried about
Speaker:somebody copy you because when you actually develop a product it's
Speaker:really hard to copy you. And even if somebody succeed to copy
Speaker:you, it's gonna take him about six months or one year just to get
Speaker:to the same quality or the same design. So for me, I think trying
Speaker:to invest more in product development is the right way to be
Speaker:unique these days. Of course there are more ways. Sometimes you
Speaker:can be unique just by giving a great customer service. But I think
Speaker:I assume that most of the listener here are not huge companies,
Speaker:huge corporation that have the money to invest in great customer
Speaker:service or a lot of paid ads and stuff. So sometime if you're
Speaker:going to take the extra two or three months to develop the product,
Speaker:little bit more to make it to be more unique, once you launch it,
Speaker:you're going to have much more heaven time. I think there is a phrase
Speaker:like this in Amazon that they promote you. So it's the same like
Speaker:you're going to develop a product and you're going to have
Speaker:longer time that nobody can compete with you and you're probably
Speaker:going to be able to sell your price in your product in higher price
Speaker:because it's the only product in the market. Is it have this specific
Speaker:design or feature or whatever?
Speaker:Yeah, no, I love it. Love that. I love that phrase, heaven
Speaker:time. I think that's a great phrase. So it's your responsibility
Speaker:then as the founder, the owner of the business to make sure that
Speaker:the product development is done right and done well. A quick
Speaker:shout out to the episode I did with Norm Farrar. He talks about
Speaker:how he does this for his process, how he improves a product,
Speaker:actually he takes a standard product and how he makes it better.
Speaker:If you want to go check that out, just go onto the website ecommercepodcast.net
Speaker:search for the episode with Norm, who is a great guy. And you'll
Speaker:enjoy that episode. I have no doubt whatsoever. I'm curious, right?
Speaker:There's people going to be listening to the show that is getting
Speaker:started in E. Com. There are people like me that have been around
Speaker:a little while. You know, you've got a wide range of listeners.
Speaker:One of the questions I can hear, you know, the people asking,
Speaker:I try and think about the questions that maybe listeners would
Speaker:ask if they were sat here. What are the advantages maybe of
Speaker:giving you a call and using you to help me with this problem
Speaker:versus trying to do it myself versus the costs. I mean, everyone's
Speaker:always, you know, concerned about money and costs and things
Speaker:like that. So there's going to be a. What we like to call in economic
Speaker:terms, a cost benefit analysis is the official term. I think so
Speaker:I'm curious, how would you answer that question?
Speaker:Right. So I would say that my average customer makes at least 1
Speaker:million annually and at least this is really the minimum. And I
Speaker:say this because maybe in some cases it's not the best decision
Speaker:to work with somebody like this. Like if you're a beginner and
Speaker:you know you have a very small budget, do it yourself. I try to
Speaker:post some content on YouTube and Instagram and LinkedIn. You can
Speaker:watch, you can learn. Do it yourself. I think you should work
Speaker:with company like me and with a person like me when, number one,
Speaker:you have time constraint, like you're a big company and time is
Speaker:more important than money and I can save you a lot of time. Or
Speaker:when you're trying to make something unique that you probably
Speaker:don't have the skill to make by yourself, I think you should work
Speaker:with me if you need the results. And it's not just about
Speaker:the budget. I do think, and I really say this, that if you're in
Speaker:the phase where, in the phase in your business, that budget is
Speaker:the most important thing. There are many things you can do
Speaker:by yourself. You don't have to pay for everything. Right. Most of
Speaker:the business owners in the, in the beginning, they probably going
Speaker:to do the marketing by themselves. It's all good. Later
Speaker:when they will grow, they will probably pay to a company to do it.
Speaker:So I think it's kind of the same here.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, very, very, very sensible, sensible approach. So really
Speaker:the cutoff then is about a million turnover. So if you're doing
Speaker:a million a year as a bare minimum, then you can think like
Speaker:you say, if time is important to you, then, you know, give Omerr
Speaker:a ring. I think it's a big. You say you've put out content to
Speaker:help someone who's just starting out to do it themselves
Speaker:on your YouTube channel and so on and so forth. We will of course
Speaker:have the links to that, hopefully. Omerr in the show notes,
Speaker:if we've done our job correctly and you can obviously go
Speaker:and watch those to your heart's content, which, which would
Speaker:be great. So let me sort of bring this, bring this background
Speaker:a little bit. We're talking to you. We've got a unique product.
Speaker:We're sourcing it from somewhere in Asia to sell in our
Speaker:country, obviously keeping an eye on things like tariffs and so
Speaker:on stuff. I mean, to be fair, you know, the tariffs effect that
Speaker:the U.S. they don't. We. It doesn't really affect me in the uk,
Speaker:you know, we, we have our trade agreements with China. I don't
Speaker:see Keir Starman changing those at any point in the near future.
Speaker:So it's. I think I, I appreciate that. It's more a US issue.
Speaker:Where do you think it's all going Omerr, over the next five years,
Speaker:what's your sort of prediction for the west dealing with the east
Speaker:in terms of supply of these types of products? Are we still going
Speaker:to be doing it because it's cheaper or better or higher quality?
Speaker:Do you, do you see the roadmap of development in Asia and think
Speaker:actually it's still a pretty safe bet? I'm kind of curious where
Speaker:you see it all going.
Speaker:Well, I need to be honest because I'm not. I am like keeping
Speaker:an eye on the future but I try not to make assumptions that based
Speaker:on nothing basically because so I do try to look at processes
Speaker:that already happening and I can only assume probably going to
Speaker:keep happen. So for example, the distance between the end user
Speaker:to the factory going to get shorter and this is a process that
Speaker:already happening. Like in the past six years ago, a customer in
Speaker:the USA end user in the USA would be buying from the shop, that
Speaker:would be buy from the distributor, that will be buying
Speaker:from the importer, buy from a trading company in China that would
Speaker:buy from a factory and this distance already got shortened shorter.
Speaker:Okay. So I guess this process is going to keep going and I see
Speaker:more and more factories starting to sell to the end user,
Speaker:which is a bad news for probably most of the businesses because
Speaker:if you are an Amazon seller or an E Commerce seller and right now
Speaker:you buy from a factory and you sell to the end user and the factory
Speaker:going to start sell directly to the end user, you might have a
Speaker:problem. So this is something that's already happening and I can
Speaker:only assume it's going to keep happening. And so I think this is
Speaker:one thing people really should focus on and just I'm getting back
Speaker:to what I said before. Make a unique product, develop a product.
Speaker:Because if you are, if you make your own product, it doesn't
Speaker:matter if a factory going to sell directly to the end user, it's
Speaker:your product. But if you just buy and sell, you know, like regular
Speaker:stock, the normal items that everybody can buy, you're going to
Speaker:have a problem. I think.
Speaker:Yeah, that's fascinating and I get it and I why would factories
Speaker:not sell direct to consumer? Right. We see it all the time over
Speaker:here in this country, so why would they not? I think there's still
Speaker:going to be an opportunity for people like me to bridge the culture
Speaker:gap, if you see what I mean in the sense that going back to what
Speaker:we said at the start of the show, I think a few Companies like
Speaker:banggood and TEMU have managed to make it so that I actually feel
Speaker:kind of confident buying a product off their website. But I
Speaker:think there's always going to be that uncertainty where if I could
Speaker:get the same product from a local website, would I be more likely
Speaker:to buy. It's an interesting question, isn't it, about sort of
Speaker:world economics and where it's all going. But I'm intrigued by that.
Speaker:I'm a listen. This is the part of the show, good sir, where I ask
Speaker:you for a question for me. So this is where I've been doing this
Speaker:for a little while. If you're new to the show, welcome, by the
Speaker:way, it's great to have you. But for a while I've been saying
Speaker:to my guests, can you please give me a question which I will then
Speaker:go and answer on LinkedIn? I will put the answer to this question
Speaker:on LinkedIn. But Omer, what's your question for me?
Speaker:So you've been probably dealing with suppliers in Asia and
Speaker:China specifically for a while, because you do it for many
Speaker:years. Tell me, what was your biggest disaster, if there was any.
Speaker:Working with a Chinese supplier.
Speaker:Biggest disaster working with a Chinese supplier. Very good, very
Speaker:good. Well, I will answer that question on LinkedIn and if I remember,
Speaker:I'll also tell you my biggest disaster working with an American
Speaker:supplier. That was much more. That was much bigger, actually, which
Speaker:is ironic. But yeah, I will. I will be posting the answer to that
Speaker:question on LinkedIn, if you don't follow me already. Come follow
Speaker:me. LinkedIn Madmanson. But I'm a listen. Really appreciate you
Speaker:man. Appreciate you coming on and sharing the insights and thoughts
Speaker:that you have and your expertise about the whole thing.
Speaker:If people do want to reach out to you, if they've got maybe more
Speaker:questions, looking for a little bit more advice. Maybe I've
Speaker:not asked the question that they wanted answering, but they're
Speaker:burning to ask it anyway. Or maybe they want to work with you.
Speaker:What's the best way to reach out? What's the best way to connect?
Speaker:Can DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn and we can schedule a quick
Speaker:call.
Speaker:Fantastic. And of course, we will put those links to your Instagram
Speaker:and to your LinkedIn in the show notes, which you can get along
Speaker:for free. Get along for free, along with the transcripts, the show
Speaker:notes and all that sort of stuff for free on the website ecommercepodcast.net
Speaker:of course, you can just scroll down in your podcast player and the
Speaker:links will be in there. We'll put the links in the YouTube description
Speaker:if you're watching this on YouTube as well. But do reach out
Speaker:to Omerr. I'm sure sure he would love to hear from you. I'm
Speaker:a listen man, really, like I say, really appreciate it. It genuinely
Speaker:great. Loved every minute on it of it. Thank you for coming on
Speaker:and share. I've learned a lot actually. I've got some notes here.
Speaker:I've got some questions for our team as well, which is always
Speaker:good. But thanks for coming on man. Genuinely really appreciate
Speaker:it.
Speaker:Thank you for having me. Thank you for your time.