[ BDSN ] 🏴‍☠️ Protect your brand against counterfeiters & Amazon's TEMU clone

🏴‍☠️ HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST COUNTERFEITERS

Kitty Lai is a visual design communicator, brand strategist, and the founder of ME BRAND.

With two decades of senior management commercial design experience with iconic British brands like Ted Baker and Cath Kidston, she’s driven to bring businesses to life through visual communication and packaging.

Counterfeiting is a real threat to any successful product, especially on platforms like Amazon. When counterfeiters start copying your product, they’re not just harming your sales—they’re diluting your brand’s trust.

Here are Kitty’s powerful strategies to protect your brand using packaging:

1. Unique & Complex Packaging Design
   Custom packaging, with distinctive colors, shapes, and special materials, makes it difficult for counterfeiters to replicate. This visual difference signals authenticity and makes imitation challenging.
   
   

   

   
   

2. Holograms & Foil Stamping
   Holographic stickers and foil elements enhance the product’s look and deter copycats by adding a layer that’s tough to duplicate.
   

3. Serial Numbers & QR Codes
   Adding unique serial numbers and QR codes to each item lets customers easily verify authenticity by scanning, building confidence in your product.
   

4. Tamper-Evident Seals
   Security seals or shrink wraps make tampering obvious. When customers see an intact seal, they know the product is untouched and trustworthy.
   
   

   

   
   

5. Microtext & Watermarks
   Adding small text or watermarks is an effective yet discreet layer of protection that is hard for counterfeiters to replicate and can be verified by customers with a magnifying glass.
   

6. Embedded RFID Tags
   RFID tags allow real-time tracking and verification throughout the supply chain, ensuring authenticity as the product moves from manufacturing to delivery.
   

7. Secure Printing Techniques
   UV inks or color-shifting inks are invisible or change under different lights, adding another complex element that deters counterfeiting.
   
   

   

   
   

8. Authentication Labels
   NFC technology or 3D lenticular printing on labels can be scanned for instant authenticity verification, giving customers peace of mind.
   

Customer Education
Empower your customers with clear instructions on how to verify authenticity. Include a hotline or website where they can report suspected counterfeits, further building trust.

🛍️ AMAZON LAUNCHES TEMU / SHEIN COMPETITOR

In time for BFCM, Amazon has launched "Amazon Haul," a new low-priced storefront designed to compete with platforms like Temu and Shein.

Pricing

• Offers a wide range of products, including shoes, jewelry, and home decor, all priced at $20 or less, with many items available for as low as $1.50.

Mobile-Only Experience

• Currently accessible only through the Amazon Shopping app after an update and mobile website.

Delivery Options

• Standard delivery times range from one to two weeks.

• Free shipping on orders over $25; a $3.99 fee applies to smaller orders.

Customer Incentives

• Additional discounts available: 5% off orders over $50 and 10% off orders over $75.

• Returns within 15 days for purchases exceeding $3.

• Purchases are protected by Amazon's A-to-Z program.

Branding and Marketing

• The design and branding closely resemble those of competitors like Temu, featuring engaging elements such as emojis and scrolling banners to attract shoppers.

• The platform leverages FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) tactics to enhance consumer engagement.

This launch signifies Amazon's strategic move into the budget-friendly market segment, aiming to capture price-sensitive consumers while challenging existing competitors.

Launch your business on Walmart Marketplace
and let it grow, let it grow, let it grow

The holidays are approaching fast and peak shopping season faster than that.

According to Vericast, 44% of consumers planning to start their 2024 holiday shopping in October or earlier.

With Walmart.com being the go-to destination for millions of holiday shoppers, it’s a crucial time to join Marketplace and set yourself up for growth. 

As a Marketplace seller, you can unlock: 

• A network of millions of customers 

• Innovative tools to fuel your growth 

• Walmart’s omnichannel advantage 

• Plus, zero monthly or setup fees. It only takes minutes to create an account, so get your jingle on and sign up now.  

Get started today!

🔎  AI is GETTING SMARTER FASTER than PROJECTED

Dario Amodei is the CEO behind Claude, one of the world’s most advanced AIs. Here’s a condensed summary of his 5-hour conversation with Lex Fridman on the timeline to super intelligence with AI:

• Timeline to Super intelligent AI: Estimated by 2026-2027, possibly sooner based on internal data.
  

• Two AGI Approaches:

  • OpenAI: Focused on being first.

  • Anthropic: Focused on safety.
    

• Major Concerns:

  • Catastrophic Misuse: AI used in cyber or biological weapons.

  • AI Autonomy: Systems that become too powerful to control.
    

• Current AI Safety Levels (ASL):

  • ASL-2: Current models.

  • ASL-3 (Next Year): Turning point with heightened security needs.

  • ASL-4 (2026): Anticipated danger level for more advanced models.

• AI’s Development Process: AI systems grow similarly to biological evolution, creating universal features seen in nature.
  

• Universal "Donald Trump Neuron": Each large language model develops a distinct neuron dedicated to "Donald Trump," showing AI’s ability to form consistent patterns.
  

• Data Limitations: Anthropic tackles potential data shortages by having AI models teach themselves.
  

• AI Advancement:

  • 2022: High school level

  • 2023: Undergraduate level

  • 2024: PhD level, with some tasks exceeding human expertise
    

• Programming Breakthrough:

  • AI can now complete 50% of real tasks, expected to reach human-level problem-solving next year.
    

• AI Personalities: AI is developing interests, perspectives, and abstract understanding, raising questions about its autonomy.
  

• Regulatory Urgency: Amodei stresses the need for AI regulation by the end of 2025.

For a full understanding of how the world will likely change more than it has in the past 100 years soon, I encourage you to watch the entire episode below:

💰  CASH FLOW SOLUTION for GROWING E-COM SELLERS

Often times as you grow your e-commerce business, cash can get tight. If you have a decent credit score, using credit cards can be your lifeline and help immensely.

But you don’t want to use credit cards that have high interest rates. That can cripple your bottom-line. Instead, use 0% interest credit cards, then pay suppliers and others who may not normally take credit cards using a company like Melio. They do charge a 2.9% one-time fee for doing it, but that is obtain substantially lower than paying interest.

Many credit cards give you 15 months or more at 0% interest, and you also earn the miles and/or points too for using your card to pay suppliers!

Here are several cards with 0% interest for an extended period of time. Click the image below to find out all the details about each card to see which may be best for you.

Send products to Micro-Influencers

Use the platform Stack Influence to automate Micro-Influencer collaborations at scale (get thousands of collabs per month) and increase your Amazon growth, generate UGC, and boost up your brand awareness like never before.

Top Amazon brands like Magic Spoon, Unilever, and MaryRuth Organics have been able to get to #1 page positioning on Amazon and increase their monthly revenue as high as 13X in as little as 2 months. 

• 🤑 Pay influencers only with products (stop negotiating fees)

• 🚀 Increase external traffic Amazon sales (get to top page rankings)

• 📸 Get full rights image/video UGC (build your brand with authentic content)

• 🤖 100% automated management (don’t lift a finger to get influencer collabs at scale)   

Don't believe it? Check out the results from the Blueland Micro Influencer campaign which generated a 13X ROI scaling up influencers on Amazon.

After successfully raising investment on Shark Tank Blueland turned to Stack Influence to boost their Amazon sales and become a top selling listing using Micro Influencer marketing.

Increase your Amazon listings ranking for targeted keywords before the holiday season is upon us! 

Get 10% OFF by signing up in November

📻 AMAZON SELLER PODCAST GOLD

I trained a battalion of AI robots to listen to 56 Amazon-related podcasts every week and share some of the best nuggets with you. Here are a few:

💸  MAXIMIZE YOUR CASH FLOW THIS Q4 HOLIDAY SEASON

With inventory flooding into FBA warehouses right now during Q4, it’s easy to lose track of shipments, overlook important documents, and miss out on FBA reimbursements.

To finish the year strong and maximize your cash flow, make sure your FBA inbound shipments are in top shape. Let Getida help you streamline the process, reconcile your shipments, and ensure you’re getting the FBA refunds you deserve.

Learn more about how Getida can simplify your FBA inbound shipment management and boost your bottom line this holiday season.

BDSN subscribers get $1,000.00 of FBA refunds with Getida too.

Check it out!

✌🏼 Have a great weekend.

See you again on Monday from Singapore for Southern Seller Fest.

The answer to today’s STUMP BEZOS is
81% of Amazon 3P sellers gross less than $120K annually