Ben Hofman

I know you like your ppc stuff Jordan Domin-Goddard David Mollart Iona Laycock Here's a great one for you off my dashboard. 🌟 ROAS 15.21 X over a 7-day window - £58 spend driving revenues of £888 at an average sales price of £30+ per unit with a good margin and ROI. Test, monitor, refine, tweak, monitor, refine etc. If performing badly, delete and start over. A/B test etc. Kill off underperforming key words and double down etc. It's all a game - but one thing's for certain... you sure learn faster and understand the concepts better when doing it yourself and playing with real money! 💰 #accountability Phillip Collins Robert Marjoram Kane Cordy MAAT #eCommerce #ppc #marketing

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Last month I was lucky enough to work with eBay for Business to produce a set of videos to help business sellers prepare for peak season. This is one of the videos produced which went live last week and offers my top tips to maximise sales opportunities during Q4 and into Christmas. If you are an eBay marketplace seller there are a tonne of opportunities to create a strong revenue stream this peak season. More top tips coming soon #ebayreseller #onlineincome #businessseller

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Climb Global Solutions has acquired 3 UK-HQd/UK-centric distributors since 2020..... 💰 - DataSolutions - Spinnakar - Sigma Today, the former of those 3 firms officially becomes part of its Climb Channel Solutions UK brand. But the CEO of the NASDAQ-listed outfit Dale Foster has just told me that it's doubling down on western European M&A, with DACH the main target, partly because the market here (unlike in the US) is fragmented. Climb works with Gartner 'Challenger' vendors. Read the story below to see which three challenger brands Foster is betting on to light up the market 👇 https://lnkd.in/eFuY2A6i

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Ecommerce: Early Black Friday Trading Update This week, we talk about how brands are handling Black Friday this year. What activity we are seeing and how to adapt to get optimum results? Full episode: https://lnkd.in/eKhMnXFR Watch our latest case study video here - https://lnkd.in/eVixMcC

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Print on Demand is Blowing Up 👇 In 2022 it was a $6bn industry, in 2032, it’s expected to be worth $64bn! It’s a style of ecommerce when you never have to deal with international suppliers. They’re local to the market you’re selling into, the ship fast, and the customers love the products… The products you put onto your store you already know sell very well… And the best part is, you don’t need invest thousands into inventory like you do with amazon FBA… Instead, when an order comes in, you collect the money, your supplier is automatically notified & the ship the product for you… Meaning you never have to touch the products you’re selling… In the past 10 years I’ve been doing this full time & sold close to $10m of these products. Most of that time I spent working from home! I got to see my kids grow up, I got to experience their milestones, all their firsts, awards they received at school and competitions they took part in…we’ve travelled, take regular holidays together and I get to be there to enjoy mornings and afternoons with them without the border of a 9-5! The type of ecommerce I am referring to is print on demand…all you need to do is create designs on your computer and upload to a suppliers website and list them on Etsy… Would you like to learn how you could make an extra $5k-$10k/mo in as little as 2 hours a day? 💥‼️ COMMENT the word POD below & I’ll send you the details. #wifimoney #printondemand #sidehustle #sidehustles #wifimoneyfromhome #manifest #etsysellersofinstagram #printondemand2024 #printondemandcoach

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Kingfisher plc have published their Q3 results for the period ending 31 October 2024. Here’s the key points:- - Group sales at £3.2bn, -1.1% on like for like basis, reflecting continued weak demand in UK and France. - UK & Ireland £1.6bn - growth driven by Screwfix +1.8% LFL and TradePoint UK +4.9% LFL. B&Q -0.6% LFL. - Core sales resilient, big ticket showing some signs of improvement and seasonal still impacted by poor weather. - In France total sales £967m, -4.3% LFL although showing improvement from Q2. Read all about it here on Insight DIY - https://lnkd.in/eEEKUWdP Worth noting that B&Q’s total ecommerce sales have increased +14.3% year on year, driving overall ecommerce penetration to 14.6% (12.9% Q3 ‘23). B&Q Marketplace GMV +45% and now 41% of total ecommerce. Outlook for Q4, more of the same. #retail #retailnews #commerce #ecommerce

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Amazon can play 2 vital roles for UK Product Teams. 1. An online sales engine Yep, it’s the most reliable place to market and sell products online. Why? Because that’s where the customers are… And the shopping and delivery eco-system is second to none. People often forget about the second role… 2. Risk-free global expansion Want to increase sales and have a hunch about a certain new market? Amazon is the answer… Risk-free market entry, simply by listing and advertising. It is by far the quickest and simplest way to enter and test a new market. What other channel out there can offer reliable sales… And global expansion? I don’t think there is one.

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🚀 Another Successful Webinar! 🚀 It was fantastic catching up with Paul James Harvey this morning for our 2nd Buyer <> Seller Q&A Webinar. A huge thank you 🙏 to everyone who joined and for the brilliant feedback you gave us: 💬 What attendees found most valuable: ↳  “The information on how Suppliers can capture the interest of Buyers” ↳  “Real life examples and how to tackle them” ↳  “very clear breakdowns” ↳  “The experience and knowledge of both” ↳  “Just listening to the experiences from being in those positions” ↳  “Loved the slide on how to grow category” ↳  “The diagram of levers to drive category sales was really easy to digest” ↳  “Good insight from experienced professionals” 🎥 The recording is now in post-production & we’ll share the link soon! 🔜 What’s next?   We have exciting plans going forward for future webinars as well as more detailed commercial & category training... ... so if you’d like to attend a future session please **Like this post or DM/follow us** to be the first to know when new dates drop. 💡 Your input matters!  If there are any specific topics you’d like us to cover in future sessions, please also let us know in the comments below. And finally, as mentioned on the call, you can also book Paul & myself for a Power Hour call to work through your burning business questions & issues, so if this is of interest please do get in touch. Until next time,   Simon & Paul #Training #CategoryManagement #Sales #FMCG #CPG #RetailerEngagement #GoToMarketStrategy #CategoryGrowth

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Our target is to sell 33,000 more Christmas sets in 2024 than we did in 2023. We’re going for growth! I’ve been somewhat quiet on LinkedIn the last number of weeks because preparing to hit this target has taken focused attention and careful planning across multiple departments/suppliers and retailers. A snippet of the planning involved includes: Carefully curating the right mix of product and pricing for this year’s Christmas collection. Analyzing what sold last year and what didn’t - improving on what worked and scrapping what didn’t. Supply chain readiness - everything from scaling product and packaging production (in Ireland 🇮🇪) to working with our distributor to ensure timely deliveries. B2B and B2C marketing - from exhibiting at retailer Christmas conferences and shooting the Cocoa Christmas campaign to creating point of sale material and hosting a glamorous launch party (see video for a goo). Not to mention event sponsorships and influencer gifting; out of home advertising and digital marketing - the list goes on. Oh and can’t forget in-store activations. The list really does go on! I hope some of that might be helpful to anyone building or rebuilding 😉 their brand. Shout out to the many Irish retailers getting behind our 2024 Christmas gift sets! Just some of the stores you can pick Cocoa Brown Tan by Marissa Carter new Christmas sets up in are: Boots Ireland Tesco Ireland Dunnes Stores Kilkenny Design Shaws Department Stores McCauley McCabes Pharmacy LloydsPharmacy Ireland Meagher's Pharmacy Group Chemist Warehouse Cloud 10 Beauty

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From retail catalogue to the choice of champions! Here’s the key to Screwfix’s success as the UK’s No. 1 DIY retailer. ❌ It’s not the products. ❌ It’s not the promotion. ❌ It’s not the price. ❌ It’s not the placement. And yet, they nail all of it! So what the heck is it? ✅ Their obsession with the customer! Starting from a humble one-page mailer catalogue in 1979, it took over 25 years for Screwfix to open their first brick-and-mortar store. Today, there are over 900 stores across the UK. And how did they achieve such remarkable, consistent growth? As former CEO Andrew Livingston put it over a decade ago: “Our purpose is to be unbelievably convenient for our customers in whatever way they want to order. We have seen a big shift in ­customers ordering online and using click and collect. Tradesmen do invest in mobile technology, and they always seem to have the latest mobiles.” And that piece of insight didn’t come from nowhere. 💡 Ordering equipment on the move is a must for white van man! Tapping into that demand turned Screwfix into one of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses. What does that amount to today? 📈 How's £2.54 billion in sales! As the current CEO John Mewett puts it: “We are passionate about supporting tradespeople, and we know from speaking with them just how rewarding a career in the trade can be. As a supplier to the trade, we wanted to understand and be a voice for what tradespeople are seeking from the new Government to support their businesses and to help more people enter the construction industry.” You see.. IT'S - ALL - ABOUT - THE - CUSTOMER! ➡ From brand  ➡ Across comms  ➡ And marketing  ➡ To offers Screwfix are NOT a product sales business! They are a tradespeople support business! --- Want to learn how to turn from industry option to top choice brand? Follow ✳️ Nikola Grabacic And smack that bell + all notifications. #retail #marketing #branding #innovation #digitalmarketing

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Ecommerce: Maximising Your Ecommerce Engine In this podcast, Mark and Ian dive into optimising the performance of the ecommerce engine you already have. Learn how to maximise the profits from your existing IP and grow. Full episode: https://lnkd.in/eUZ9f6Gw

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I’m regularly asked by Home and Garden suppliers and retailers, from the smallest to the largest - ‘Should we sell on marketplaces?’ When it was just Amazon eBay and ManoMano it was easy for companies to find excuses why not:- - We don’t really like drop shipping. - Selling on those platforms will cause pricing issues with our existing customers. - There’s no margin in it. - It’s a race to the bottom. - We simply don’t have the internal knowledge and expertise. - We don’t know where to start. Although my answer to the original question is always ‘Yes, you should begin selling on marketplaces and start today’, I was respectful of businesses that for whatever reason made the strategic decision to not sell on those channels. However, the arrival and success of The Range, B&Q Marketplace, Tesco and the planned launch of numerous others (watch this space) has really turned that strategy completely upside down. And as marketplace competitors start taking significant online share, many well known brands are struggling to come to terms with what to do next. In the last few days, the team at Rich Insight have written a piece on the key advantages and benefits of companies selling on retailers marketplaces like B&Q and it’s really, rather good. Read it here, only takes 4mins - https://lnkd.in/eagrsDBg And if you’re struggling with exactly what I have said above, DM me, let’s have a chat. #marketplaces #ecommerce #digital #homeimprovement

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Shop price data out today..... During the height of the cost of living crisis, retailers invested heavily in improving their operations and supply chains to compensate for the impact of global shocks on input costs. This is clearly paying off, with shop prices having risen just 0.2% over the past 12 months. Food inflation is now lower than any time since 2021 helped by falling prices for key products such as butter and coffee. Meanwhile, non-food prices went deeper into deflation as retailers tried to drive sales by discounting. This was particularly true for TVs with great deals to capitalise on the Euros fever.    Whoever wins Thursday’s election will benefit from the work of retailers to cut their costs and prices, easing the cost of living for millions of households. The last few years should serve as a warning that where business costs rise significantly, consumer prices are forced up too. The next Government must address some of the major cost burdens weighing down the retail industry, including the broken business rates system, and inflexible apprenticeship levy. By doing so, retailers can invest in lower prices for the future – helping to reduce the cost of living pressures that many families face. See the full report here 👇 👇 https://lnkd.in/evSkMCQp #retail #buyintoretail

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Investment Opportunity Transforming the £1.4 Billion UK Hair & Beauty Market We’re raising £275,000 for 20% equity in Callo, a revolutionary software designed to transform the salon industry. In an industry worth £1.4 billion in the UK alone, we’re solving a major pain point: the need for salons to hold stock, costing £1000s, gathering dust, and demotivating teams with the pressure to upsell. Clients see through this and hate the hard sell and that’s where Callo steps in. Our software empowers salons by eliminating these problems, giving them the tools they need for success. The growth potential is huge! Get in touch to view our pitch deck—our team is eager to discuss the exciting opportunities ahead. #InvestmentOpportunity #Callo #HairAndBeauty #DisruptiveTech #SalonIndustry #BusinessGrowth #RevolutionarySoftware #

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6 months into the year are you on track to deliver your 2024 sales budget? Here's 3 tips for how to use Insight to get a QUICK turnaround & help you bring the budget in... 1. Get into Store - how can you drive your Rate of Sale? Insight is not always data & does not always come with a bill. If your brand’s rate of sale is not what you need it to be, then stand in front of it in your key retailers and see if you can work out WHY? - RRP or Promo price not competitive : can be a quick fix - Low visibility : POS solutions can be quick - Implementation issues : retailer can fix in a few days/ few weeks - On shelf availability (many causes!) : Root cause the issue (quick), many possible solutions, including investment in merchandising support (quick) 2. Distribution - New & Existing Big retailers are finalising the last range changes of the year right now. It may be too late for many categories, but... - Do you have a complete calendar of range dates for all your current & potential customers? (this is insight!). Which are still in play? - New listings are more difficult than protecting existing ones - part of delivering your budget is underpinning & protecting existing sales. - Which, if any, of your listings are at risk? Use the data & insight you have to pre-empt any potential issues & develop the arguments to protect. 3. Optimise Online Everything remains in play. - Do you know how your Shoppers shop & the touchpoints they use to decide what & where to buy? Quick tactical research can answer many questions & provide actionable insights in a couple of months. - Online Audits - How do Shoppers see your brand in your key retailers & what are they doing that you are not? (insight again). - Direct to Consumer - is your offer fully optimised or are there opportunities which remain on the table? (more on D2C in the comments!) Realising the value from your investment in Insight can sometimes take time - eg if you are developing a really insight driven product or pack, but it does not have to always be that way. It does not always involve big new bills for data either. Focus on what Insight you have CURRENTLY GOT in your business, what else you can get for free, and how you can really unlock value from that. And if you need a fresh pair of eyes to have a look and advise on what is right & will maximise ROI for your brand, then please do get in touch. Its what I do.

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How we're generating 1 lead for every 136 prospects we contact in ecom... This is on a new campaign that we just launched. So far it has the stats shown in the image below - it's early days... However, we've been working this particular customer for over 9 months now, and we know we're getting close to absolutely cracking open their market. This campaign currently has over 1,800 prospects in it, so we're only 15% of the way into it, and the whole TAM for it is at least 11k. With a bit of 'back of the napkin' math, if these stats hold, we'll generate 13 leads from this campaign over the next week, and could scale it all the way to 80 leads in the next month. Our booking conversion fluctuates anywhere between 20% and 50%, so this would get our client 16 to 40 meetings through late Nov - early Dec. Oh and his close rate from our bookings is currently at an astounding 80%, meaning he'd sign on at least a dozen new clients for himself before the new year. Outbound is a money printer... Now the actual strategy we've honed in on here is actually quite simple - but it's come from a process of testing and iterating until we've gotten rid of all the fluff. Here's the keys: 1. Infrastructure From our analysis of our client's TAM that we did during our market mapping service, the ecom stores he targets are pretty evenly split between Google and Outlook at about 50/40 with the remaining 10% being other less common email clients. This campaign is a Google to Google one, and we are seeing strong performance again on Azure-Outlook so will use that for Outlook users. 2. Messaging Nearly across the board for all our customers in every industry and doing any service, we are using a very similar messaging thesis at the moment. Distilled down, it's: • clearer subject lines - tell them what they're going to look at • strong personalization right away relevant to the offer and timely - think signals • simple language to communicate the reason we're reaching out - you might call this 'the offer' but I'd say it's even simpler than that • a real CTA - we're pitching them, they know that, so let's get to business Some trends I noticed that led us here was finding that when there isn't a good message, you need to overly rely on gimmicks like a 'no-brainer' offer or value-based CTAs. I hate both of those, and so do my customers. *Not saying they don't have their place too, but imo they need to part of a broader strategy that is really well laid out and executed. Bonus: 3. Warm Calling You're just not going to book at a good rate in most industries through email anymore without picking up the phone. Out of the 2 leads so far, the one we called we booked, and the other is from Australia where we couldn't get their number. We are back to booking at our highest rates since the start of the year, while also at our fastest conversion times ever. DM me if you'd like to chat about any of this. Good luck!!

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*CHANGE IS COMING* Shopify announcing a partnership with Roblox is a game-changer. 👀 With over 200 million monthly active users, this collaboration could lead the way toward immersive commerce, seamlessly blending entertainment, social interaction, and shopping. In this new era, we’re no longer passive consumers of content; we actively become part of the experience. This shift offers innovative ways for brands to starting build meaningful, long-term relationships with the next generation of consumers—creating engagement that goes far beyond traditional marketing. #ImmersiveCommerce #Shopify #Roblox #DigitalMarketing #BrandEngagement #NextGenCommerce #VirtualRetail #EcommerceInnovation #ConsumerExperience #FutureOfShopping #RetailInnovation #InteractiveMarketing #GamingAndCommerce

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Amazon isn't just the UK's #1 ecommerce destination. It gets more traffic than the rest of the 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟭𝟬 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱. More than... eBay Argos Etsy Boots Asos Currys Tesco Sainsbury’s and John Lewis 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱. And you thought DTC was your brand’s most important channel? Amazon always wins on price, selection, convenience and speed. Others might have some of these. But not all of them, all of the time. Still distracted by DTC? Focus where your customers are. 400 million visits last month doesn't lie. #amazon #brandstrategy #d2c #dtc #ecommerce #marketplaces #onlineretail #retail #retailstrategy #amazonvendor #amazonseller  

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