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Welcome back friend!

And a big welcome to the +69 new readers this wek!

Q4 on Amazon doesn’t end today.

It ends January 31.

Everyone gets Q4 wrong.

They think it’s October to December because that’s what the calendar says. On Amazon, Q4 actually runs November through January. October is setup. November is ignition. December is chaos. And January is the forgotten month where the money is still very real.

Here’s why January matters. Gift cards. Christmas cash. People didn’t buy (or get) what they wanted in December, so they buy it for themselves in January (Auntie Susan just doesn’t “get” you).

The demand doesn’t disappear! Sales will STILL be wrong. Meanwhile, sellers shut their brains off on December 26. U no shut off brain, ok? Inventory keeps moving. Cash is still tied up. Stay frosty.

Also, Chinese New Year (CNY) is Feb 17 - Mar 3. Make sure your reorders are in soon if not already.

✅The Instant Value Section (IVS)✅

(aren't you glad you opened the email now?)

Huge thanks to my friend George Meressa founder @ Clear Ads for supplying this week’s IVS. George is endlessly smiley, helpful, & kind. Definitely a guy you should meet! Enjoy.

Here are 5 Ways to "Force" Your AOV Up

Brands we speak to try to outsmart the algorithm or lower their CPCs. There is a simple but powerful lever we push that helps grow brands and it is all around the Average Order Value 

If you spend $30 to acquire a customer who spends $30, you’re out of business. If that same customer spends £60, you’ve unlocked infinite scale.

Amazon

1. The "Virtual Bundle" - Use Amazon’s Virtual Bundle tool to pair two existing SKUs into one new listing. You get a higher AOV without the cost of physical re-packaging. If the bundle sells well, make a “REAL” bundle.

2. The "Buy More, Save More" - Promotion Set a "Percentage Off" trigger that only activates when a quantity threshold is met. 

3. The Multi-Pack Variation - Don't just sell singles. Add a 2-pack or 3-pack as a variation on your main listing. It’s the easiest way to move more inventory per click. Check if VMPs (Virtual Multi-Packs) are live in your account by searching “VMP_” in Inventory Manager.

DTC

1. The "Free Shipping" Threshold Bar - Add a progress bar to your cart. Watching a bar fill up creates a psychological "itch" to add one more small item to avoid the shipping fee.

2. Don’t stop at one offer. Once a customer hits "Buy," trigger a sequence of one-click upsells, cross-sells, and downsells. If they decline a premium upgrade, immediately offer a smaller complementary item. 

See more. 

Multi-Country PPC Campaign Creation

Here’s a cool video from our friend (and previous IVS writer Igor Nuhanovic) sharing Amazon’s new PPC feature that makes international advertising way easier.

You can now build manual Sponsored Products campaigns across multiple marketplaces at once (not just auto campaigns anymore). That means you can:

• Set up a campaign in multiple countries simultaneously

• Choose different products, targeting, bids, and budgets for each market

• Avoid switching back-and-forth between dashboards for EU expansion

This is a big time-saver and gives sellers more control when scaling ads internationally.

GOTCHA: You still need to add in your own keywords, Amazon won’t do a good job at guessing what your keywords are in other countries.

Amazon’s Agentic AI Creative Agent is Live

Hey good-lookin'. I’ve been waiting a while for this one. The agentic AI agent is here.

Advertising > Creative Tools > Creative Studio

It's basically talking to an AI agent that has complete knowledge of all your products and can make videos or images (only available on Amazon.com).

Here’s a few things it can do (and pretty well, I might add).

• Generate full ad creatives end-to-end
  Creates complete ad assets, not just copy or images. That means headline, body text, images, layouts, and CTA assembled together for Amazon ad placements (or you can't just download them and use them elsewhere)

• Produce multiple image OR video variations for A/B testing

  Spins up batches of creative variants at once so you are not manually testing one headline or one image at a time.

• Use your product and brand data directly
  Pulls from ASIN data, brand assets, and existing creatives so outputs are grounded in what you already sell and how your brand looks.

• Iterate and refine creatives via natural language
  You can say things like “make this more benefit-driven,” “less text,” or “focus on price value,” and it will revise the creative accordingly.

• Stay compliant with Amazon ad policies by default
  Generates creatives within Amazon’s advertising rules so you are less likely to get disapprovals for claims, formatting, or prohibited language.

• Continuously improve based on performance signals
  Over time, it learns from what performs better inside Amazon Ads and uses that signal to guide future creative suggestions.

Beachy holidays & Get-togethers

The last 2 weeks have been packed here with holiday get-togethers with neighbours and friends.  One of the things we really missed about living in the Cayman Islands when we were living in Canada still was getting together without months of advanced planning. 

Something like: why don’t you come over today or tomorrow?  It seemed like everyone in Toronto required a month's advance notice to plan something and required so much effort.  In our area it is so much easier to connect and making it happen is easy. A few more holiday get togethers then we will be heading to San Jose for a couple days for a chess tournament.  This time I’m bringing more pants for the colder city weather!

The Deep Dive (Premium Content)

Retail Opportunities for Amazon Sellers

Most Amazon brands fail have failed at retail because they walk in with opinions instead of data.

This video shows a tool that fixes that.

A friend of mine just launched something inside ExpandFI called the "Retail Overlap" tool. It takes every zip code where your Amazon customers live and matches it against real store locations for major retailers like Walmart, Target, Costco, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General.

Instead of saying “we think this will sell,” you walk into a buyer meeting saying:

“I already have 73 customers buying this product in the exact zip code of your store. They’re just buying it somewhere else.”

• Here’s the lifetime value.

• Here’s the customer density.

• Here’s the expected velocity if you stock it.

I bet their ears will perk up. It turns retail outreach into proof of demand, by location, backed by actual customer data. If you’re trying to get your Amazon brand into brick and mortar, this is worth seeing.

We get zero dollars for sharing this. Just genuinely trying to make you more money (as always).

How to get $100K Limits on your Credit Cards

Having a business credit card that earns tons of points is great, but that doesn't matter if your credit limit is too small to run your business. Here are the top 3 ways to get big (often $100k+) limits on US business credit cards:

1. Apply via a relationship banker. Chase, Amex, and Capital One have special relationship bankers who handle larger accounts. Instead of applying for cards online, these bankers can get you higher limits through manual underwriting. For example, bankers can often get 6-figure limits on The Capital One Venture X Business card. Even better, these bankers have access to bigger welcome bonuses and give you priority support.

2. Move credit limits between cards. Some banks let you move your existing credit limit from one card to another card issued by the same bank. Each bank has different rules, e.g., Chase will only let you move limits between its business cards, not from personal cards to business cards.

3. "Cycle" your credit limits. This is when you use up your limit and pay off your card multiple times per billing cycle. While this can be risky with some banks like Amex, others see this as proof that you're worthy of a higher credit limit. After a few months of cycling, you can then request a credit limit increase.

Special thanks to Elliot Rosenberg for supplying this week’s travel tip. Elliot is the founder of Stratys, a luxury credit card points travel concierge that gets business owners $30k+/yr in nearly-free Business Class flights and 5-star hotels.

Rent Better Vehicles in Costa Rica

If you are coming to Costa Rica to visit and you are staying in a beach town, I suggest renting a golf cart or a 4 person ATV like a Honda Pioneer.  We have both, and they are so much fun and easier to get around in town. They’re also great for getting to some of the harder to reach beaches.

If you are going to do tours which are further away, most operators will pick you up anyhow.  And when in life are you going to be able to drive a golf cart around town and it's totally acceptable?? Ok maybe a retirement community in Florida but that's about it!  Lots of rental places around and I know some Airbnb owners even offer their own cart rental.  So next time you're planning a trip, rent something FUN!

• DST Tax still not refunded for Amazon Sellers.

If You Add it Once — a Deletion Won’t Save You

Here's a post about deleting old listings surfaced by Lesley Hensell. 

Her advice is to delete listings for products you no longer sell, because Amazon can file IP complaints, product violations, cross border issues, country specific violations, or any number of other claims against them.

Here’s the problem: Deleting the listing does not protect you.

Once a product has existed in your account, Amazon remembers it. Forever. You can still get IP claims or violations tied to that listing even if you stopped selling it years ago.

Insane. Yes.

Unfair.

…Also yes.

How was today's newsletter? Love it? Hate it? Thinking about salty ocean air on your face?

• I loved it! 🌬️🌬️🌬️

• It was okay 🌬️🌬️

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To your success,

Rob & Max