Insane Sales Drop in 2024
2024 has been a rough one, we were a seven figure brand last year and are down a solid 50% this year... have kept our products in stock, launched some new products and can't seem to figure out what the deal is. It's me and my sister who run the business and we are now having to consider getting other jobs.
Has anybody else seen a huge drop in sales this year? We are in panic mode.
Insane Sales Drop in 2024
2024 has been a rough one, we were a seven figure brand last year and are down a solid 50% this year... have kept our products in stock, launched some new products and can't seem to figure out what the deal is. It's me and my sister who run the business and we are now having to consider getting other jobs.
Has anybody else seen a huge drop in sales this year? We are in panic mode.
132 replies
Seller_c7AY5UmbBC07I
1. I will let you know from personal experience yesterday I purchased three sleep eye masks, the same as available on Amazon with free shipping for the price of one on TEMU
2. Amazon is not showing RELEVANT PRODUCTS to customers in search and they buy elsewhere.
3. I also was told by many millennials they DO NOT TRUST SPONSORED PRODUCTS. Amazon is flooded with sponsored products in multiple rows.
@SEAmod
Seller_Wc3Bsag2t8yD7
Some free feedback for ya from a fellow brand owner + service agency (but not your agency), I happened across your listing while waiting for a coffee. :) Assuming you're Almere the apparel store on Amazon, let's sanitycheck your top SKUs.
Your hero SKUs:
trucker hat -- nice 2024 launch, seems to follow seasonality, good job.
strapless maxi dress -- not sure if this is spring-seasonal, but saw your listing drop significantly in April. This needs to be troubleshot.
basic tan bodysuit -- never broke out to a top seller; prob need to ID your niches and adjacencies, then win them.
tank top -- ooh, this was your old hero SKU that tanked last Q4 '23 and never recovered. You need to read your reviews and aggressively address the problems. Seems like you have a production QC problem. You clearly have a good designer sensibilities and Tik Tok presence, so double down on that, acknowledge your issues, and use that to move forward.
If you're like most other bootstrapped companies, you'll likely also need to make sure you stay in control of your PPC + get ahead of inventory before Q4 fees etc.
Take the approach I've done and apply it to your long tail (rest of catalog) -- somewhat similar sets of issues that plague them. Hopefully that helps you a bit!
PS - given that you're design-centric, do TikTok Shop: you're gonna get really the best effort-to-reward by posting drops and what not there (every single store we've launched there is making money, regardless of how good/bad we execute). Make sure you enroll in the Amazon-TikTok shop and you also get to keep more profits compared to Shopify or selling on Amazon.
Seller_r0fehDyVRb8xg
"Amazon’s sales fell short of Wall Street’s estimates but profits exceeded expectations"
Sellers are the new Amazon customer. The market is saturated. Buyers are strapped. Amazon has lost market share to competing platforms. Searches are choked with sponsored ads, disposable brands and multiple account operators. Everyone is trying to keep a piece of a pie that has shrunk dramatically and increased in price. The pie is not going to get any bigger or cheaper. Buckle up. It will be an interesting 12 months for this platform. Sadly many will not survive.
Seller_xo4Akj7FBBnfC
Almere, it's heartbreaking to read this post since we've all faced similar stress from time to time.
With the flood of competition from direct overseas sellers, it must be challenging to be an independent company selling imported apparel. Despite never having shopped for women's clothing, my browser pages are filled with competing ads for products like yours.
As a US manufacturer of DIY tools, we've managed to stay (barely) ahead of Chinese competitors by constantly changing and improving our products, launching new niche items, and finding ways to deliver value that others can't.
One giant advantage with Amazon is that when we find a product niche that is not yet well-served, our Amazon product pages quickly dominate Google organic search at no cost. And, Amazon Sponsored Ads can still be profitable for the right products.
My suggestion is to look for additional product niches that you can launch inexpensively and that can be described effectively on your product pages.
Our sales are growing in 2024, but we know that without constant improvements to our product offerings this is only temporary.
Seller_mfLJiYncriVV9
Pendulum has swung too far and now we need to make a correction. To force the correction, I am removing all listings from Amazon to be a small cog in the wheel of less competition driving buy box to increase and creating higher prices in hopes of eliminating consumers. Unfortunately the only way to force this correction is for others to get on board with removing from Amazon.
Mecari, Poshmark, Ebay, all viable options, facebook marketplace and also wal mart.com. keep your options open.
Seller_xo4Akj7FBBnfC
The fact that Amazon's search box produces an overwhelming number of bogus results is a big issue now.
Amazon search results show mostly irrelevant, sponsored ads alongside products that don't match the entered keywords.
It's gotten so bad that for personal shopping I now visit Google, enter a query with my keywords plus a "site:" operator to limit the results to Amazon, and then click individual product pages, ignoring any results that are Amazon summary pages whose titles match my query but give mostly bogus results.
And my recent Amazon search for a notebook PC with specific features was so fruitless that I ended up searching the Best Buy website to quickly find the brands and model numbers I needed.
Amazon's search function has fallen way behind other online retailers, and that's a problem for both buyers and sellers.
Seller_c7AY5UmbBC07I
Moderator says -
I do understand from engaging daily here in the seller forums that many of you have experienced year-over-year declines in sales. As suggested, you might look at expanding your online sales beyond Amazon. And, it does matter what you're listing and who is competing with you.
Amazon flooded the market with overseas products.
Secondly they changed search from REVELAVANT TO FEATURED. Promoting their own products and those willing to pay insane ad fees.
Just know this and I was told from an Amazon rep your payout will not change! So if you spend on ads YOU WILL NOT BE MAKING MORE. It will cost you!
Amazon is charging too many referral fees, their Project Nessie of pushing product prices is a failure today because of the advent and rise of TEMU, SHEIN, INSTANTCART,TIKTOK. Even ALDI has better prices for goods than AMAZON. So yes traffic is down.
Consumers also know the free shipping is a sham as its built into the product price.
A personal example I purchased three sleep eye masks on TEMU for the price of one. I routinely buy goods on ALDI because the products are good and way cheaper than Amazon.
The one day ship does not convince me to buy more on Amazon when I am saving more elsewhere.
I wrote the executive office and my email went unanswered about the costs of putting products on Amazon and that fees were outrageous.
Just shortly after project Nessie was revealed in the news and its was Amazon intentions of making merchants raise products on goods so they could make more money.
Seller_c7AY5UmbBC07I
Competing websites ARE crushing Amazon. Tiktok, Ebay. If buyers cannot find RELEVANT RESULTS and PRICES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE people leave.
Sponsored ads flooded Amazon and it is not doing amazon good. They are placed in searches that are not relevant. Amazon search from Google is misleading and those searches take you to amazon for wrong products just to get you to the website. So why even bother going to Amazon, and if you can get your products from TEMU for far less Amazon has just killed searching.
Seller_5DdjOC8BLAHT6
Pre 2023 Amazon made up almost 70% of our sales for 8 consecutive years in a row. 2023 came along and our sales dropped by almost 50%. Luckily we have been seeing where Amazon has been going for a while now and have been working on expanding our business into other markets for the last 4 years. 2023 was our worst year in years and the first half of 2024 was not great either, but because we have branched out into other marketplaces, including our own, we no longer have to rely on Amazon to make it.
Amazon lets way too many Chinese sellers on the platform. They pretty much duplicate everything and anything and then undercut good quality products. 20% of our listings have been deactivated for high pricing error, even though our stuff is made here in the US and they are comparing it to Chinese knockoff stuff at a 1/3 of the price. With all the stuff they change on a daily basis, you need someone full time opening cases, submitting appeals and trolling for hijackers. Not to mention enormously high fees on everything. We would be struggling too if Amazon was our only source of income.
We have slowly been shifting away from Amazon, just managing our top selling FBA items. Its too high a price for what you get, and based on how the last few years have gone, good sellers will just keep getting overrun and pushed out unless you really have a product that can't be duplicated or you have to compete against. Amazon is money hungry and they have diluted the market in their quest to take over the world. And sellers keep feeding into all their high priced programs trying to get back to where they used to be.
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
October 4
Here’s what investors have to say about the latest look at the US economy:
“It looks like we may be coming in for a soft landing after all,” said Eric Merlis, managing director and co-head of global markets at Citizens. “While geopolitical events could still throw a monkey wrench into things, today’s jobs numbers should ease concerns about the labor market.
“The key for us will be if this strong jobs report translates into higher inflation. We don’t see signs of that. The improving supply of workers will reduce wage pressure,” said Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates.
“Today’s data hit a grand slam with payrolls coming in strong, positive revisions, and unemployment falling. The economy is heading into the post-season solidly. This is a beat on every aspect,” said Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector investing within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
“The labor market data may become clouded over the next few reports by a perfect storm of factors, such as the port strike and the disruptions from Hurricane Helene. While these data impacts aren’t likely to change the Fed’s interest rate course, it may make it tougher for both central bankers and investors to gauge accurately how the labor market is faring,” said Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management.
Seller_mc8GX6TJa2TIP
Hello Almere,
We move from relevancy model to dynamic re ranking model, but I know there is no place where you see the changes in amazon but I have been try to stay on top of the amazon algorithm quit long, this is not the 1st year its changes, they evolving for so long which good for the platform and bad if we dont stay on top of the algorithm. I would suggest you follow someone who is already stay on top of it. if you go to amazon conference, you get tone of data by the amazon employee and also other seller. thats how I try to stay on top of it.
Most of the time, I seen issues in backend like pt, IT, GL, DOW and browse Nodes. if you these down aligned properly, you will have lot of issues in ranking and sales. check those item in your listing. I was able to fix it for the product and relaunch it and we are seeing positive changes.
ThanksColin Raja
