Entry Points, Merging Traffic & Converging Journeys

I am not punctual.

My estimations of the time left before I have to leave, or time it will take me to get ready, or amount of time it takes to get my children ready and in the car are comically bad.

I will burden my near-future self with Herculean feats of speed and efficiency if there is to be any hope to be on-time just to steal another moment of whatever I am engrossed in at the time.

That is, I'm usually running late.

The Town That Loves Roundabouts

I use my GPS all the time. Even if I know exactly how to get there.

I like that it gives me my estimated time of arrival, traffic delays, and sometimes accurate notifications of speed traps ahead.

Plus, you get to play that game where you see if you can get somewhere earlier than Google Maps thinks you can.

I was cutting it close taking my daughter to karate class the other day. I plugged the address into the GPS like normal. Part of me was hoping the fastest route setting would save me some time.

It told me to take the exit one before my usual exit. Maybe it has me avoiding a slowdown. Maybe this way is actually a little quicker.

I soon realized that the GPS was sending me through the town that has fallen in love with roundabouts in recent years. I made a right off the exit ramp and despite being only seven minutes away, I go through THREE of them.

Now, I don't know how you feel about roundabouts, but if you have a positive outlook on them you would be the first I've ever been aware of.

I know what the data says about the positive effects on traffic, but I find them to be asphalt panic attacks.

I never seem to be in the correct lane, I can't keep track of how far around the circle I've gone, another vehicle always goes whizzing past on my right just as I was about to exit that way. It's madness.

It's also a fitting analogy for what I wanted to talk to you about.

Seller Tribes

Most of us have our seller tribes. We have communities of our peers and mentors that we spend time with.

There are groups on Facebook, communities on Discord and Slack, group texts on WhatsApp, X (Twitter) communities, and masterminds, among others.

These communities are great places to ask questions, solve problems, share leads & suppliers, and most importantly, network with other sellers.

Often, through context and interaction, these tribes tend to adopt collective best practices and essential tool stacks.

If it's an educational group, some tools and practices have been taught depending on the group subject matter. Obviously, these become the default consensus of that group.

Some groups will be proficient using seller tools that have direct competition. For example, one community may use asinzen while another thinks Seller Amp is the gold standard. A group majority might use SellerBoard where another views Inventory Lab as an essential tool.

You get the idea.

Seller Communities as Roundabouts

I'll build the analogy from the center working outward:

• The center island at the middle of the roundabout is the core of the community.
• Traffic flows continuously through the lanes. The vehicles may change and will be at varying distances from the core, but the flow keeps moving.
• Types of vehicles & drivers: there will be sports cars, minivans, and box trucks. Speed demons and Sunday drivers. Just like there are different sales models and volumes.
• Merging & yielding: Amazon is no stranger to moving the goalposts on us. Rules change. New requirements are added. Features are canceled. Tools and prep centers sell to new owners or close. We have to adapt and position ourselves to get to where we want to be.
• Entry & exit points: Sellers join at different stages, each of us bringing unique experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. The point at which we join influences our view of the roundabout and the flow of traffic.

On a large scale, you have a collection of sellers coming together on the same path with similar goals, but at the same time each of us is on our own unique journey.

The analogy kinda works, right??

Two Types

In my head, I classify communities into two main types:

1) general industry

2) destination

General Industry Communities

General groups tend to be very large and more wide-ranging in content. They're also, in my opinion, the least useful most of the time, unless you're just getting started.

These types of groups were very helpful to me when I was a new seller. Nearly every novice question imaginable has likely already been asked and answered.

There's a basic education to be had through observation and the search bar.

For most group founders, these massive communities are money makers.

On the surface, I have no issue with it. That was likely one of the goals at inception. If you built a group with tens of thousands of members, you had to have done some good and your hard work should be rewarded.

But when revenue generation takes priority and the content is designed to keep you in their affiliate funnel, objectivity (and the members' best interests, consequently) gets thrown out the window.

However, that is a tangent for another time.

In terms of the roundabout, I'd guess the majority of the members entered at a similar point. I'd assume most joined looking for guidance with a facet of selling they didn't have experience with: new sellers, arbitrageurs looking to expand into wholesale, eBay sellers looking to add Amazon's marketplace, etc.

Heavy traffic, but fairly straightforward.

Destination Communities

I classify destination groups as ones having a specific purpose. They're usually focused on a niche.

(Side note: on pronunciation, I am firmly on team 'nitch'. I couldn't get my mouth to say 'neesh' if I wanted to.)

Examples of destination groups would be things like the OA Challenge, the Wholesale Challenge, and you might have heard me talk about the BOPIS mastermind I'm in. There are sourcing camps and courses. Or even a community built for an upcoming conference.

These are my favorite types of groups and you can really make strides in your business by being present and absorbing as much as you can.

One of the biggest benefits is these groups are usually smaller than the general industry groups. It's said people most want to learn from people two steps ahead of themselves. A smaller group will make it easier to have meaningful exchanges with the people we most want to hear from.

These groups are more focused on niches, but the membership feels more diverse. Naturally, groups designed around intermediate and advanced topics will draw members at that same level. Which means there's no consensus.

Many of the people we get to interact with have different foundations, mentors, tool stacks, and best practices. We might not like them all or agree, but it's an opportunity for a new perspective.

It's a roundabout in the center of a busy square with people entering from all directions at different speeds in all kinds of different rides.

As a roundabout, it's a nightmare. As a community, it's gold.

Destination Q4

Many of us have a shiny new destination community right around the corner. I'm referring to the Q4 groups that are opening their doors right about this time.

If you're new to Q4 groups and joined one, I suggest not focusing solely on the avalanche of leads they'll provide. It's an opportunity to grow not only your inventory, but also your network and your skill as an seller.

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Did You See This?

📰 Walmart Seller Convention

ASD and AMZ United seemed to get the majority of the buzz recently, but lost in the trade show talk was Walmart's Marketplace Seller Summit held recently in Vegas.

Walmart won't charge peak fees for inventory inbound by October 1st and is aiming to cut fulfillment costs for sellers.

Retail Dive has more details

📰 Amazon raises its free shipping minimum

Amazon has raised its free shipping minimum for non-Prime customers to $35 (up from $25).

Subscription services generate $9.9 billion for the company and this may push that number even higher. As of 2021, Amazon claimed 200 million people are Prime members globally.

Read the full story at CNBC

📰 Curbside Cup of Joe

Do you ever go to Target to pick up an order, hit the "I'm Here" button to have them bring it out to the car for you, and then stare longingly at the Starbucks while you wait thinking maybe you should have gone in to pick it up so you could get your caffeine fix?

Well good news! Target has added the ability to order coffee in the app. And they'll bring it out to you WITH your order! What took this brilliance so long??

This will take my BOPIS game to a whole new, jittery, level.

Yahoo has the details on this wonderful news

📰 You Might Have Heard About the Lawsuit...

But just in case you haven't:

AP News on the FTC suing Amazon

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Sometimes I Think I'm Funny

Make sure you adjust your repricer now that the Small & Light program is no more.

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Have a great week! Talk to you soon.

Chris