Cheaper Easier Direct: How to Disrupt the Marketplace and Create Your Own E-Commerce Empire

Cheaper Easier Direct: How to Disrupt the Marketplace and Create Your Own E-Commerce Empire In this modern, hectic, always-changing world, balancing careers and family while still carving out a modicum of leisure time can be a major challenge as life continues throwing its curve balls our way. With these stresses and strains of day-to-day existence, a comfortable status quo is what many of us crave. We certainly DON'T WANT to be "disrupted". However, as Chad Rubin details in his new eBook CHEAPER EASIER DIRECT: HOW TO DISRUPT THE MARKETPLACE AND CREATE YOUR OWN E-COMMERCE EMPIRE with Frank Turner; in the rough and tumble, competitive, ever-changing, and sometimes cutthroat world of E-Commerce, that's EXACTLY WHAT'S NEEDED, disruption.The old paradigm of brick-and-mortar manufacturing and retail where product flowed from manufacturer to wholesaler to distributor to dealer to customer just doesn't work anymore, as people demand more choice, more variety, and more innovation - all at a lower cost. Something simply must give! And according to Rubin and Turner, the first of those somethings is that long, convoluted and expensive pipeline between the maker and the consumer. Traditionally, each member in the chain would add his or her cut to the ever-inflating price until the consumer faced paying $500 for a commodity that might have cost $50-$100 to manufacture. There simply had to be a better way. There was and the authors go on to explain it.Its genesis came when some companies began sourcing their parts from and sometimes even manufacturing entire product lines in overseas factories, where labor costs are far less. Faced with having to compete against the lower priced goods, competitors were forced to adopt the same outsourcing techniques. Now, This Reviewer personally bemoans the loss of American industry and the jobs and pride that went with the MADE IN THE USA label. However, for a number of social, political and economic reasons (far beyond the scope of this review) this paradigm was not sustainable in its former, bloated form - a house of cards awaiting the inevitable fall. And when one team drops the ball, the other is quick to pick it up and convert the play before the closing bell. Rosie the Riveter would need a complete makeover.This industrial migration started happening - slowly at first - in the 1990's (though its roots were germinating much earlier) and has ramped up inexorably at such a pace that the geographical shift is nearly complete. With this cumulative geo-relocation, the majority of manufacturing has switched hemispheres. There are many reasons for this but the three primary ones are:(1) Labor cost as previously mentioned.(2) In the Eastern world, there is far less cultural inertia to overcome than exists here: the obstacles that would otherwise prohibit the rapid design, prototyping and ramping up of production either exist to a lesser degree or not at all. Sadly, the MADE IN AMERICA methodology with its endless committee meetings, planning, designing, tooling, labor staffing and negotiations, re-planning, and re-tooling is simply too slow and cost inefficient. By the time we've found our station, the train of opportunity has already sped through and is hurtling toward the next destination. In contrast, Japan, Korea and ESPECIALLY China can have a new product off the boards and onto the production lines in a week or less. On-the-fly changes can often be translated from concept to re-design to production runs in 24-48 hours.Things ARE improving domestically, but our Western meandering Bison is still losing the competition to the Eastern Cheetah.(3) And finally, the Internet happened, and that changed everything! Oh, not completely, and not all at once to be sure, but the changes were logarithmic in speed and effect until the balance shifted. It will take disruption to get back any measure of domestic momentum.And where am I going with all this? It's a completely different world than our grandfathers; fathers and even we grew up and thrived in. Business now happens at the speed of thought hindered only by the speed of light, and Chad Rubin helps to define the pitch and shows us some of the winning plays so that we too can succeed in E-Commerce. He turned his family's struggling vacuum cleaner business into an internet success story, Crucial Vacuum; and in so doing, he gained the experiences necessary to help him launch several other successful online businesses under the Crucial moniker.Chad advises us to learn from missed opportunities and then put them behind us so we can be ready for that next great opportunity lurking out there waiting to be seized. On an installment of NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, Host Robert Siegel lamented a lost opportunity in gold futures investment with the statement "the train has left the station". To which his guest, Ira Epstein, a futures trader himself replied, "People think they've always missed an opportunity--the problem is, they haven't...There's always another train coming along...there's always an opportunity in the marketplace, the question is when to get on board with that opportunity." - From dontgetcaught[.]biz, Wednesday, January 16, 2008.In his book CHEAPER EASIER DIRECT: HOW TO DISRUPT THE MARKETPLACE & CREATE YOUR E-COMMERCE EMPIRE, Chad Rubin leads us through the tools and techniques we'll need to analyze these opportunities and some of the methodology needed to respond to them. He also shares his wisdom on when to pass them up.One particularly poignant segment is when Chad describes a method of endearing oneself to Asian factory managers by embracing their cultural two-handed exchange of business cards followed by a night out with beer, Karaoke and American movies. These and other methods of cultivating personal relationships helps an entrepreneur more easily negotiate a more favorable 30/70% split and a lower MOQ. "Do you want to know more?" This eBook is only $0.99 and a nice read.Rubin and Turner teach us about choosing a product that will sell by using wisdom such as: "focusing on discovering problems and then devise solutions rather than the reverse ... Can you add value? Can you differentiate your product? ... Your product must improve upon and be better than whatever a consumer is already using that is similar ... Companies should focus on 'solving a real problem' which "is the essence of disruption.'"The authors discuss tools at your disposal for product research, selection, logistics, and locating potential manufacturers. Research, research and research some more…and Focus on the low-hanging fruit, we are told throughout the book.There is MUCH, MUCH MORE and the book is light and interesting reading. It's NOT a cookbook on E-Commerce entrepreneurialism; rather it's a starting point on a journey into that world of digital business. Sometimes it may seem a bit light on specifics, but I think its main function is to serve as a guide versus a tutorial or textbook. Still, it DOES present a good amount of detail within certain sections.IF you're interested in quitting your day job, this book will NOT handhold you through that process; that’s not its intent. But it can show you what you're likely to face, give you a basic outline or framework for dealing with the process, and serve as inspiration while teaching pitfalls and techniques. If you’re interested in perusing E-Commerce, then Chad’s book will spur you on to eek out more detailed information. If you're simply interested in the subject matter or have ever wondered how products end up on your doorstep, then this book is an entertaining and informative read. In this case, I can’t recommend it highly enough.I’m giving this book 5 STARS today. Great book and a fun read! It’s not epic, but then we’re not reviewing Homer, Chaucer or Harper Lee here. I can find no legitimate reason to give it any fewer. Just enjoy it for what it is and have fun reading it. I did! AND, if I ever decide to start my own E-business, this book will be the first one I reach for.I received this product either for free or at a discount in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I depend upon honest product reviews to make my personal buying decisions. I NEED to be able to trust the validity of those reviews, and SO DO YOU. That's why you will NEVER see a review from me that is not as helpful, accurate and honest as I can make it - regardless of whether I paid full price or got it free.

This short book, is simply the best guide for anyone who wants to achieve Amazon “Private Label” selling success and follow a correct path/protocol for a business model around your product. A product review is only as good as the experience and knowledge of the reviewer:I consider myself a very savvy Amazon seller. I know many of the tricks and trade secrets about selling on Amazon – and this book exposes them. I am sort of annoyed that the author gives away so much information to the general public.Of course, throughout the book he plugs his own e-commerce software: Skubana.This is not a review of the software, but I happen to be using it for the last 2 months for my high-volume private label Amazon business. So far I am quite impressed, both in functionality and UX design. Over the years I have used and tried the following: Sellercloud, Solid Commerce, Stichlabs, eComdash, and finally found Skubana to be the best so far as of 7/2016. If you think is book is only a walking advertisement for Skubana, your wrong, as he has a separate section for Skubana at the end. Let me break this book down for you:Types of Sellers this book may be for:-If you primarily sell other brands items (there are other sellers on your listings) you will DEFINITELY learn tricks that you never knew, and that you could use right away while launching your private label business. If you plan on making your own products to sell, than this book is made for you.-If you have been selling your own PRIVATE LABEL brands on Amazon for less than 2 years, then you WILL DEFINITELY learn something new. There is no way you have all the knowledge that is in this short but knowledge-packed book. No way.-If you consider yourself a very savvy PRIVATE LABEL seller like myself, you may not learn as much as the other sellers, BUT you will FINALLY have a really good book to refer to all your friends, family, and strangers who bother you to find out, “How to sell on Amazon”Simply refer this book and go back to selling instead of launching another seller!- Chad gives away many private label secrets that most sellers do not learn about, unless they are uber savvy. For example Going for low hanging fruit of product, extensive keyword researching of niches and hyper-niches, importing advice, and above all:SOLVING a consumer need.In my opinion, the strongest private label products solve a very specific human need.- Side point: If you happen to be using the most expensive and over-priced Amazon software in the world, which rhymes with PANEL APVISOR, then you should probably look into Skubana. Your overpaying and they PREY on hapless entrepreneurs. Their core business model is ripping off ‘Corporate’ companies like Household brand name conglomerates, which have huge expense budgets.Don’t believe me? Why don’t you read this:https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-the-ChannelAdvisor-platform-cost-in-the-USMY CRITIQUES:There are few perfect books out there and I’m sure I can-The part about negotiating with China on prices - while he is correct about it – it’s not as much of a ‘process’ as he describes. My rule of thumb is this: WHATEVER price an Asian factory gives you for a low minimum order, ask for 15-20% less per unit. Even if you end up getting only a 3% discount because they can’t do it for that cheap; at least you got that!It may seem outrageous to you, but I have found that Asian culture sort of respects the disagreement / and the agreement on price. Also when you haggle on a price the factories know you are serious. And then when you AGREE to the slightly discounted price, the factory contact always gets excited and happy. It’s a win-win. Start haggling.-The examples of sites such as Warby Parker and Bonobos and Dollar Shave Club are a bit too far out there. I get it that the author wants to show B2C ‘cutting out the middleman’ businesses which have made tens of millions, but the average joe won’t be able to relate.I would have liked to see complete Amazon Seller business’s that you never heard of published in the book. By bringing up general e-commerce sites - confused me as this book seems more geared for private label sellers and not off-Amazon website owners. This book would be helpful to both, but the author should have stuck with real-world examples all in Amazon or all in off-Amazon. Bonobos, Dollar Shave Club, and Warby Parker are great examples of B2C retail, but what about Pharmapacks, Death Wish Coffee, and Alpha Grillers? In my business experience, those 3 sellers are employing more of the tricks in the business than others provided as examples*The reviewer who commented negatively that he thought the book should be longer, misses the entire point of what this book is trying to do. It’s a protocol guide; not one of those business guru “Here’s how you make millions on Amazon” BS baloney books that have hundreds of reviews, by fools who wouldn’t know good advice from bad advice.Nonetheless, even with all critiques factored in, it’s a Five Star book.-There are so many secrets here in this book, that one could even make the mistake and assume the title is just trying to be catchy: Better, Cheaper, Easier and DirectATTENTION Amazon Sellers selling Private Label Brands:The title of this book should be EVERY private label amazon business’s Business Model. You should be building out your entire business making things for cheaper, with better quality, and more focus on the end-consumer, than the stale older corporate brands that take the category for granted.-This is a ‘Big Picture’ business model suggestion type of book:The book does fall short in terms of providing details that the savviest of sellers know. For example, the book doesn’t give away the tricks on how to game Amazon’s algorithm on your listing pages, of how to best optimize listings. But then again, this is more of a book that will ‘stir the pot’ of your ideas about your business model, than the fine-tuning of hyper-specific info related to your ASINs.Hey, if you made it this far, and have read all/most of this review, and i[...] All comments are welcome.

Chad's book got me into eCommerce with far more knowledge than I would have otherwise had.It's a quick and powerful read, and that's one the main things I look for in a book. The other is advice that is clean and easy to implement which this book is also packed with.Anyone even thinking of starting anything eCommerce related should seriously give this a read first.

Really enjoyed this book. As a professional Amazon FBA seller, there is a great deal of useful, actionable information. Highly recommended.

Thank you Chad for the great insight in this book. You are a very inspiring entrepreneur, and you are a great model of what people could accomplish without any previous background and knowledge in this industry.

Short, concise and useful information. Definitely recommend it. It is straight to the point and very easy to read and implement

If you're just starting to get into e-commerce.. Easy to read, focussed and informative. Thank you for sharing your experience, Chad!!