James Thomson is a Partner at Buy Box Experts, a service agency that helps support brands to sell products on Amazon and other online channels. He is the go-to expert on all things Amazon including the larger world of Amazon sellers and Amazon FBA. He has been featured in many media outlets and has been published more than 200 times in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Wired, and the Washington Post.
James is also the Co-founder of The Prosper Show, one of the best events out there for large Amazon sellers. He recently co-authored the book, Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon. James previously worked at Amazon where he was the Business Head of Amazon Services and the first Fulfillment By Amazon Account Manager.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- What people need to know before creating a product listing on Amazon
- James Thomson explains what a brand is and why companies need to control what their brand looks like on Amazon
- How to play well in the Amazon sandbox and create high quality listings
- What new brands on Amazon need to do before adding products and the common challenges they face in driving traffic to their listing
- How a business can invest, drive traffic to their brand, make sales and get reviews
- James talks about IP infringement, the utility patent procedure on Amazon, and the benefits of investing in trade dress IP protection
- Why design patents are more valuable on Amazon than utility patents
- Benefits of getting a patent and why people should avoid ‘me too’ businesses
- James talks about his book, Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon and how to deal with unauthorized sellers on Amazon
In this episode…
Upon joining the Amazon marketplace, a new brand will usually find itself at the bottom of the barre. There are a ton of things brands need to acquaint themselves with when it comes to selling on Amazon ranging from how to market themselves, how to drive traffic and increase sales, how to become a leader in their category, and getting raving reviews from customers.
In addition, most businesses joining Amazon and wishing to scale quickly often overlook the initial expense that comes with joining the platform and making their presence known to its large market. Amazon is a totally different ballgame from other online channels and getting the hang of how things work on the platform can take time
In this episode of Innovations and Breakthroughs, Rich Goldstein talks to leading Amazon expert, James Thomson, about what businesses should do upon joining Amazon. They’ll be talking about the things brands need to know such as the importance of branding both on and off Amazon, the best practices in creating quality product listings, and the role of patents on Amazon. James also talks about his book, Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon, and how it can help aspiring Amazon sellers. Stay tuned.
Resources Mentioned in this episode:
- Goldstein Patent Law
- Rich’s book: The ABA Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent
- James Thomson on LinkedIn
- James Thomson’s email address: james@buyboxexperts.com
- Buy Box Experts
- The Prosper Show
- Jungle Scout
- Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon by James Thomson and Whitney Gibson
- Rich Goldstein’s interview with Carlos Alvarez
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Goldstein Patent Law, a firm that helps protect inventors’ ideas and products. They have advised and obtained patents for thousands of companies over the past 25 years. So if you’re a company that has a software, product, or design you want protected, you can go to https://goldsteinpatentlaw.com/. They have amazing free resources for learning more about the patent process.
You can email their team at welcome@goldsteinpc.com to explore if it’s a match to work together. Rich Goldstein has also written a book for the American Bar Association that explains in plain English how patents work, which is called ‘The ABA Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent.’
